Biden SecDef Nominee Says China a Greater Threat than Russia

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, President Joe Biden's nominee for Secretary of Defense, affirms China remains the most dangerous strategic threat facing the United States.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his nomination hearing, Austin emphasized his focus as defense secretary will be on the threat posed by China. He believes China is the “pacing threat” confronting the U.S.

“Clearly the strategy will be arrayed against the threat and China presents the most significant threat going forward because China is ascending," said Austin.

"Russia is also a threat, but it’s in decline. It can still do a great deal of damage as we’ve seen here in recent days. And it’s a country that we have to maintain some degree of focus on, but China is the pacing threat.”

Austin told the senators the U.S. military maintains a qualitative edge over China. That advantage, however, is diminishing and must be remedied.

“We’ll have to have capabilities that allow us to hold – to present a credible threat, a credible deterrent, excuse me - to China in the future," Austin pointed out.

"We’ll have to make some strides in the use of quantum computing, the use of AI, the advent of connected battlefields, the space-based platforms. Those kinds of things I think can give us the types of capabilities that we’ll need to be able to hold large pieces of Chinese military inventory at risk."

Austin strongly believes the U.S. military retains a qualitative and competitive edge over China.

He also said he intends to revisit the Trump administration's 2021 National Defense Strategy that ranks China as the top threat to the U.S. The NDS lists the five greatest dangers to U.S. national security as China, Russia, North Korea, Iran and global terrorism.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin

"These are the same threats that Secretary Ash Carter described at the end of the Obama administration, but the order has changed," said the 2018 NDS.

"Whereas Carter had put Russia first, the Trump administration puts China first. Further, the administration’s strategy places greater emphasis on China and Russia than the other three threats."

The document describes China as a strategic competitor using predatory economics to intimidate its neighbors while militarizing features in the South China Sea.

“I think much of the document is absolutely on track for today’s challenges, Mr. Chairman," said Austin in response to a question from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK).

"As is the case with all strategies — if confirmed — one of the things that I would look to do is to work to update the strategy and work within the confines of the guidance and the policy issued by the next administration."

Anthony Blinken, Biden's nominee for Secretary of State, said much the same thing during his nomination confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.

He said both confrontation and competition with China must be approached from "a position of strength, not a position of weakness." He asserted the U.S. has the means to confront China and these are "fully within our control." (Jan. 21, 2021)