The newly released U.S. National Security Strategy includes a few lines indicating that the Trump administration recognizes the threat from the regime in China:
“Deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority. We will also maintain our longstanding declaratory policy on Taiwan, meaning that the United States does not support any unilateral change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. … A related security challenge is the potential for any competitor to control the South China Sea. … This will require not just further investment in our military — especially naval — capabilities, but also strong cooperation with every nation that stands to suffer, from India to Japan and beyond, if this problem is not addressed.”
That all sounds great. But what this administration says and what this administration does are often no more than distant cousins, particularly when it comes to the Chinese government.
It has been a while since anyone in the administration uttered a word about Salt Typhoon, the sophisticated state-sponsored Chinese cyberespionage campaign targeting critical infrastructure that compromised at least nine U.S. telecom companies in late 2024.
About a year ago, in the closing days of the Biden administration, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology Anne Neuberger warned, “China is targeting critical infrastructure in the United States.”
That sounds like the sort of thing the U.S. government might want to do something about. But apparently not; on Dec. 3, the Financial Times reported that the Trump administration had “halted plans to impose sanctions on China’s Ministry of State Security over a massive cyber espionage campaign in order to avoid derailing the trade truce presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping struck in October.”
Because if there are any folks we want to avoid antagonizing, it’s those kind and generous fellows over at the Chinese Ministry of State Security.
Meanwhile, over in Japan, a new war of words with the regime in Beijing is intensifying.
On Nov. 7, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responded to a question about a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “If they use warships and that is accompanied with the use of force then, however you think about it, that could be a ‘survival-threatening situation.’ The government would judge how to respond based on all the information on the actual situation in specific individual cases,” she said.
That’s not exactly trash talk, but the Chinese government reacted with its long-familiar indignation and outrage. For the past month, the furious reactions from Chinese officials and media have only escalated, even to include some military provocations. Japan’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that over the weekend, Chinese military fighter jets twice locked their radar on Japanese aircraft over international waters southeast of Okinawa.
Again, you might think that some folks in the Trump administration would want to offer a word or two of support to the new Japanese prime minister as she faces down Chinese bullying. The good news is that after two weeks, U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass finally said, “I just want to say directly from the president and from myself and from the embassy for the prime minister, we have her back.”
The bad news is that’s just about all the Trump administration has said about the ongoing dispute. On Dec. 6, the Financial Times reported that Shigeo Yamada, Japan’s ambassador in Washington, has “asked the Trump administration to step up its public support for Tokyo.”
I hope the Japanese aren’t holding their collective breath for that. Trump can find time to weigh in on the guest selection on Fox & Friends Weekend, his longtime relationship with Al Sharpton and the pressing issue of Roger Clemens’s 2012 acquittal on perjury charges, but he apparently can never get around to addressing increasing tensions between one of our closest allies and the regime in Beijing.
And this isn’t even getting into Trump’s sudden enthusiasm for Chinese students on U.S. college campuses, his refusal to enforce the ban on TikTok, or the administration’s decision to deny permission for Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te to fly through the U.S. on his way to Latin America for a diplomatic trip. If you’re Xi, you’re getting a heck of a lot of what you want, in exchange for buying some U.S. soybeans.
Trump appears convinced that he and Xi are buddy-buddy these days, and he isn’t going to let little things like massive cyberattacks or saber-rattling against Japan get in the way of that.
So, if you’re worried about the latest U.S. National Security Strategy … eh, don’t lose too much sleep over it. Apparently, the published plan has little to do with how the administration actually treats its geopolitical rivals or allies.
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