U.S. security strategy takes aim at China, Russia while investing at home

The Biden administration's first national security strategy stresses the need for a foreign policy that balances the interests of global allies with middle-class Americans.

The White House laid out a national security strategy Wednesday aimed at checking an ascendant China and a more assertive Russia even as it stressed that domestic investments are key to helping the U.S. compete in the critical decade ahead.

The administration’s first national security strategy, a document required by statute, stresses the need for a foreign policy that balances the interests of global allies with those of middle-class Americans.

“We understand that if the United States is to succeed abroad, we must invest in our innovation and industrial strength, and build our resilience, at home,” the strategy states. “Likewise, to advance shared prosperity domestically and to uphold the rights of all Americans, we must proactively shape the international order in line with our interests and values.”

In broad brushstrokes, the strategy sketches a “decisive decade” for national security, as President Joe Biden faces an arguably more complicated world than when he took office 21 months ago in the midst of the worst global pandemic in a century. At the same time, the White House said policy-makers must “avoid the temptation to view the world solely through a competitive lens, and engage countries on their own terms.”

Biden came to office championing a “foreign policy for the middle class” that sought to put greater focus on China as a rising economic and military competitor, reinvigorate alliances that had frayed during the Trump administration and protect human rights, all while looking out for U.S. interests.

Administration officials say that the focus on U.S. interests remains central to Biden’s foreign policy vision. But the new strategy document also reflects the long list of crises that has left the world facing shared challenges including climate change, food insecurity, communicable diseases, and inflation.

“We’re in the early years of a decisive decade,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a speech at Georgetown University to spotlight release of the document. “The terms of our competition with the People’s Republic of China will be set. The window of opportunity to deal with shared challenges like climate change will narrow drastically, even as the intensity of those challenges grows. So we need to grasp our moment.”

The document stresses the necessity of competing effectively with China, which the administration says is the only competitor that has both the intent and, increasingly, the capability to reshape the international order, while constraining a dangerous Russia.