US Defence Secretary Mark Esper will call in a speech on Friday for a greater European focus on tackling what he called growing security and economic threats from China and Russia.
Last year, the US military put countering China and Russia at the centre of a new national defence strategy, the latest sign of shifting priorities after more than a decade and a half of focusing on the fight against militants.
“It is increasingly clear that Russia and China want to disrupt the international order by gaining a veto over other nations’ economic, diplomatic, and security decisions,” Esper said in prepared remarks he will deliver at the Royal United Services Institute think tank.
“The United States is facing this challenge head-on, but if we are to preserve the world all of us have created together through decades of shared sacrifice, we must all rise to the occasion,” Esper said, adding that both countries were increasing capabilities in the space and cyber realms.
There are a growing number of flashpoints in the US-Chinese relationship, which include an escalating trade war, American sanctions on China’s military, and the US relationship with Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province.
In his prepared remarks, Esper described a litany of concerns about China, from the way it uses its economic power to technology theft.
He pointed to the situation in Hong Kong, which has been engulfed in angry and sometimes violent protests against the government for months over a bill on extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China.
“We all see what’s happening to those who continue to speak out against the (Chinese Communist Party’s) influence in Hong Kong,” Esper said.
“I was there for the handover in 1997 when the “one country, two systems” designation was affirmed I would ask you: given what we see in Hong Kong today, has China kept those promises?”
Esper also highlighted the risks posed by Russia, from a potential incursion into a neighbouring country to its actions in Syria.
His comments come even as President Donald Trump drew disagreement from US allies recently by calling for Russia to be readmitted to the Group of Seven advanced industrialised countries.
“To put it simply, Russia’s foreign policy continues to disregard international norms,” Esper said.
There are increasing concerns that Russia and the United States are headed towards an arms race after Washington formally pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) pact last month, accusing Russia of violating it, allegations Moscow denied.
