WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, President Joe Biden unveiled his first national security policy plan, explaining how the US would “successfully compete” with China in the years to come “while limiting a dangerous Russia.”
When it became evident that Russia was getting ready for military action in Ukraine, the 42-page report’s intended December publishing date was postponed.
Ten months later, the disastrous invasion had greatly crippled Russia’s army and economy, a new reality that was reflected in Biden’s approach.

Russia and [China] present different difficulties, according to Biden. “As demonstrated by its savage war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia poses an imminent threat to the free and open international system by willfully disregarding the fundamental norms of the current international order.”
The People’s Republic of China, or P.R.C., on the other hand, is the sole rival with the intention to alter the global order as well as an expanding amount of economic, diplomatic, military, and technological might to achieve that goal, the president said.
While also “going forward on the challenges that demand that we work together,” such as global health and climate change, Biden wrote that the United States and China will engage in strategic rivalry.

A national security strategy must be unveiled by every new government, but it serves more as an aspirational statement of the president’s principles than as a guide for military preparations.
Overall, according to Biden, his government will place a high priority on three things: expanding America’s domestic high-tech and industrial sectors; bolstering international coalitions and alliances like NATO; and making expenditures to “modernise and enhance our military.”
Biden’s plan for confronting Russia was pragmatist, given America’s pressing and continuous participation in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The prolonged conflict’s toll on the Russian military “would probably enhance Moscow’s reliance on nuclear weapons in its military planning,” wrote Biden. The president stated that the United States “will not let” Russia to achieve its goals through the use or threat of nuclear weapons, but he did not specify how the U.S. would do that.

“We are refocusing our focus on boosting our collective resilience against common dangers from Russia, including asymmetric threats” to U.S. infrastructure and American democracy,” wrote Biden. This is in addition to continuing and escalating the U.S.’s current military assistance to Ukraine.

In his essay, Biden said that the conflict in Ukraine fought by Russian President Vladimir Putin had “profoundly reduced Russia’s prestige vis-à-vis China and other Asian nations such as India and Japan.”
In addition, Biden noted that while Russia is a regional threat to Europe and a threat to international markets, it “lacks the across the spectrum capabilities of the PRC.”