October 28, 2024
To Focus on China, U.S. Needs to Wean off Europe and Middle East Missions
Earlier this month, Gen. Charles Flynn, the head of US Army Pacific, appeared at the Center for a New American Security with a clear warning: China’s build-up in land, air, and naval power has put it on an “accelerated path” toward military superiority in the region.
Concerns about China’s military capabilities are par for the course in national security circles these days, but Flynn’s direct comments serve as a good reminder that the PLA’s growth is not something just happening in hypothetical papers, but something the US military is seeing in real time.
If the United States cannot rebalance its military focus toward the Indo-Pacific it risks expediting Chinese aggression in the region and furthering the decline of the US-led economic and political order worldwide.
The problem is that for all the talk about how China is the “pacing challenge” and needs to be the main focus for Washington, the US is overstretched at this most critical juncture. The uncomfortable reality: To be able to focus on China, American commitments need to change abroad.
A quick survey of America’s missions abroad sums the situation up.
Read the article on Breaking Defense.
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