WASHINGTON • US Defence Secretary Mark Esper has revealed a fresh drive to strengthen American alliances with "like-minded democracies", in part through arms sales, in an effort to curb the global influence of Russia and China.
Mr Esper said the Pentagon would systematically monitor and manage its relationships with partner countries, aiming to find ways to coordinate militaries and also to advance US arms sales.
The initiative, called the Guidance for Development for Alliances and Partnerships (GDAP), comes just two weeks before the presidential election that, if President Donald Trump loses, could see Mr Esper replaced in January.
It also comes after nearly four years of Mr Trump's efforts to restructure and even dismantle alliances, including Nato.
"America's network of allies and partners provides us an asymmetric advantage our adversaries cannot match," Mr Esper said on Tuesday, calling the network "the backbone of the international rules-based order". He added that "China and Russia probably have fewer than 10 allies combined".
He said China uses coercion and financial entrapment to build its alliances with weak countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.
"The smaller the nation and the greater its needs, the heavier the pressure from Beijing," he said.
Mr Esper cited visits he has made to build defence relations with Malta, Mongolia and Palau, as well as US plans for a greater defence presence in Eastern Europe, including basing troops in Poland.
And he underscored the need to build closer ties to "like-minded democracies such as India and Indonesia", adding that "they all recognise what China is doing".
A key part of this effort is to expand US arms sales, to both help allies improve defence capabilities and to bolster the US defence industry against competition from Moscow and Beijing, he added.
Mr Esper said he has taken steps to ease restrictions on exports of "critical" weapons systems and speed up approvals, and will use the GDAP to identify arms sales opportunities and protect US markets.
He cited as an example the recent relaxation of US restrictions on the export of battlefield drones, which the US could sell to Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.
Mr Esper's announcement is a "strategic miscalculation" which seeks to portray China "as an opponent", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing yesterday.
China and the United States have locked horns over trade, human rights and China's growing global tech ambitions in recent years.
China's Foreign Ministry yesterday also accused Washington of arbitrarily harassing Chinese students in the US. Nearly 300 Chinese students leaving the US have been questioned at American airports from May to September and some of their electronic devices had been confiscated, Mr Zhao said.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
