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The United States has unveiled a new National Defence Strategy (NDS) that calls on allies and partners to assume “primary responsibility” for their own defence, even as Pentagon strengthens its military posture to ensure China cannot block American access to what it describes as the world’s emerging centre of economic power in the Indo-Pacific.
Released by the Pentagon on Friday evening, the 2026 NDS places homeland defence and the western hemisphere at the top of U.S. military priorities, while identifying China as the principal challenge to stability in the Indo-Pacific.
“The security and prosperity of the United States are directly linked to our ability to trade and engage from a position of strength in the Indo-Pacific,” the document states, warning that Chinese dominance in the region would allow Beijing “to effectively veto Americans’ access to the world’s economic centre of gravity.”
While the strategy reiterates that deterring China remains a central objective, it adopts a noticeably less confrontational tone than the Trump administration’s 2018 defence strategy, which accused Beijing of seeking to reshape the international order in the image of its “authoritarian model.”
Instead, the new NDS frames U.S. policy toward China around the pursuit of what President Donald Trump has termed a “decent peace” in the Indo-Pacific.
“President Trump has made clear his desire for a decent peace in the Indo-Pacific, where trade flows openly and fairly, we can all prosper, and our interests are respected,” the strategy says. The Pentagon adds that it will seek to “communicate that vision and intent to Chinese authorities, while also demonstrating through our behaviour our sincere desire to achieve and sustain such a peaceful and prosperous future.”
At the same time, the document stresses that peace must be underpinned by strength. “Our goal is simple,” the NDS states. “To prevent anyone, including China, from being able to dominate us or our allies.”
The strategy urges U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific to contribute more to collective defence, signalling that Washington will provide “more limited U.S. support” where partners are capable of defending themselves. It also outlines plans to “erect a strong denial defence along the first island chain,” stretching from Japan through Taiwan and the Philippines to Southeast Asia, aimed at constraining Chinese military freedom of action.
Despite the region’s sensitivities, the document does not refer to Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island claimed by Beijing and widely viewed as the most likely flashpoint for a U.S.–China conflict. Instead, it says U.S. military engagement with China will focus on “supporting strategic stability” and on “deconfliction and de-escalation more broadly.”
The NDS repeatedly emphasises that Washington does not seek confrontation for its own sake. “The United States is not trying to dominate, strangle, or humiliate China,” it says. “We seek to set the military conditions for a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific that allows all of us to enjoy a decent peace.”
However, the Pentagon cautions against complacency, noting the need to be “clear-eyed and realistic about the speed, scale, and quality of China’s historic military buildup,” including investments in advanced capabilities and increasingly complex joint exercises.
The strategy follows President Trump’s national security strategy released last month, which elevated the western hemisphere as the foremost geographic priority. Reflecting that shift, the NDS lists China as a secondary “line of effort,” after homeland defence and U.S. interests across the Americas.
According to the document, the Pentagon will develop “credible options” to guarantee military and commercial access to Greenland, the Gulf of Mexico and the Panama Canal, arguing that adversarial influence has expanded in those areas. It warns that while the U.S. will work “in good faith” with regional partners, it is prepared to take “focused, decisive action” unilaterally if necessary.
Beyond China, the strategy describes Russia as a “persistent but manageable threat” to Nato’s eastern members, identifies Iran as the principal destabilising force in the Middle East, and calls Israel a “model ally.” It also signals an end to what it calls “interventionalism, endless wars, regime change and nation building,” even as the administration maintains the option of limited military action where core U.S. interests are at stake.
Overall, the NDS presents a recalibrated approach to global defence, one that seeks stability with China in the Indo-Pacific while placing greater responsibility on allies and prioritising U.S. security closer to home.
Ravi Shankar
Dr Ravi Shankar has over two decades of experience in communications, print journalism, electronic media, documentary film making and new media.
He makes regular appearances on national television news channels as a commentator and analyst on current and political affairs. Apart from being an acknowledged Journalist, he has been a passionate newsroom manager bringing a wide range of journalistic experience from past associations with India’s leading media conglomerates (Times of India group and India Today group) and had led global news-gathering operations at world’s biggest multimedia news agency- ANI-Reuters. He has covered Parliament extensively over the past several years. Widely traveled, he has covered several summits as part of media delegation accompanying the Indian President, Vice President, Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister and Finance Minister across Asia, Africa and Europe.
