China officially top priority for Pentagon now

As we know, many Pentagon services have estimated in recent years, even months, that the rise of Chinese military force has become the main threat to the United States and its allies, in the Pacific Theater as well as in the world. . But a confidential directive of which the American site BreakingDefense.com has been informed, shows that from now on, it is the entire Pentagon which considers that this threat is the priority of the American armies, to the point of entrusting its exclusive management to the Secretary of Defense himself, General Lloyd Austin, who will have the responsibility of defining and implementing the Pentagon’s “China” policy. This is an event of rare significance in the United States, because even the most influential Secretaries of Defense, such as Donald Rumsfeld or Robert McNamara, have never been in charge of such a specific mission vis-à-vis a major potential adversary.

This appointment gives the Secretary of Defense extensive decision-making and control power over many aspects, in particular over the implementation of the new Joint Warfighting doctrine which, much more than the development of new weapon systems or new offensive technologies, constitutes the heart of the short-term response of the American armies to counter Chinese power in the years to come. If the heart of this doctrine is based on the Joint All-Domain Communication & Command system, or JADC2, developed by the US Air Force, its management is now assigned directly to Secretary Austin, clearly showing the decisive role that this new approach represents for the Pentagon.

Technical and operational aspects are not the only ones to fall within the scope of the new responsibilities of the American Secretary of Defense. Indeed, and concomitantly with the efforts made by Joe Biden since his inauguration, and the first effects of which will be felt during the current European tour of the American president, Lloyd Austin will also be in charge of consolidating the network of alliances of the States- United, whether in the Pacific or on the rest of the planet, to present a united front of “Western democracies” against China, and thus, we hope, to dissuade it from implementing potentially very dangerous policies. risky. We naturally think of the situation in the South China Sea, where Beijing claims full possession of the majority of islets and reefs listed on “historical” grounds, in complete contradiction of international regulations, creating a growing number of areas of tension. with its neighbors like Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.

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