By Franz-Stefan Gady
China’s activities in the South China Sea are prominently featured in the Pentagon’s latest strategy document.
Today, the Pentagon released [PDF] a new national military strategy that warns that the United States’ comparative military advantage has begun to erode due to a more conflict-prone international system that includes revisionist states that are undermining transregional security as well as violent extremist organizations.
The highest-ranking U.S. military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, notes in the document’s introduction that since the publication of the last National Military Strategy in 2011, “global disorder has significantly increased”.
“We now face multiple, simultaneous security challenges from traditional state actors and transregional networks of sub-state groups – all taking advantage of rapid technological change. Future conflicts will come more rapidly, last longer, and take place on a much more technically challenging battlefield,” he additionally underlines.
The strategy notes that the United States is attempting to deter, dissuade and – if need be – defeat potential state adversaries, while simultaneously pushing to degrade and defeat violent extremist organizations across the globe.
Read the full story at The Diplomat