Pentagon Launches Effort to Better Address China Challenge 

PENTAGON - Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rolled out a departmentwide effort Wednesday aimed at more effectively addressing China as the “pacing challenge” for the U.S. military.

While some of the initiatives will remain classified, defense officials told reporters the effort puts new organizational structures in place to better prioritize competition with China and to make sure the challenges in the Indo-Pacific region are “gaining the attention they deserve.” “It's an assessment of how the department's doing with respect to truly treating China as the number one pacing challenge, and the task force found some gaps and seams, some things that we could be doing better,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said. The effort is not a “new strategy or change of direction from where the Biden administration has been to date,” according to another defense official who spoke to reporters Wednesday. “This directive from the secretary is ultimately about getting the department's house in order, ensuring that the department lives up to the stated prioritization of China as the number one pacing challenge,” the defense official said.