In Europe, US defense secretary to call for greater effort to counter China, Russia
LONDON: U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper will call in
a speech on Friday for a greater European focus on undertaking what he called
growing security and economic threats from China and Russia.
Last year, the U.S. military put disputing China
and Russia at the centre of a new national defense strategy, the latest sign of
unstable priorities after more than a decade and a half of focusing on the
fight against Islamist militants.
“It is gradually clear that Russia and
China want to disrupt the international order by gaining a veto over other
nations’ economic, political, 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 periods of shared sacrifice, we must all rise to the occasion,”
Esper said, adding that both countries were increasing abilities in the space
and cyber realms.
There are a growing number of crises in the
U.S.-Chinese relationship, which include an escalating trade war, American
sanctions on China’s military, and the U.S. 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) effect 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 neighboring country to its actions in
Syria.
His comments come even as President Donald Trump
drew disagreement from U.S. allies recently by calling for Russia to be
readmitted to the Group of Seven advanced industrial countries.
