(Washington) To impose itself on China in the long term, and to counter Russia immediately in order to remain the undisputed first world power: the White House on Wednesday reaffirmed the strategic priorities of President Joe Biden.
Posted at 12:19 p.m.
“We have entered a decisive decade,” the US president’s top diplomatic adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters.
He identified “two key challenges”.
“The first is the competition between the great powers to shape the international order of tomorrow,” said the White House national security adviser.
” The second […] is that we face a set of transnational challenges that affect people everywhere, including in the United States: climate change, food insecurity, contagious diseases, terrorism, energy transition, inflation “, he detailed.
“Everything to win”
The “most pressing”, according to a document released by the US executive, is to stand up to authoritarian regimes.
And first in Moscow and Beijing.
“Russia presents an immediate threat to a free and fair international order by shamelessly flouting fundamental international rules,” the White House said.
“China, by contrast, is the only rival that has both the will to change the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological means to pursue this objective”, further notes the Biden administration.
In the introduction, Joe Biden signs a declaration imbued with his usual optimism: “The United States has everything to win the competition of the 21st century. We emerge stronger from every crisis. And there’s nothing we can’t do. »
Indulging in a text explanation, Jake Sullivan assured: “We will not try to divide the world into rigid blocks. We are not looking to turn competition into confrontation or a new ‘Cold War’”.
“And we don’t view each country simply as a proxy confrontation ground,” he said, referring to the many “proxy wars”, ranged wars, waged by the Americans and the Soviets between 1945 and 1989.
Ukraine
“I don’t believe the war in Ukraine has fundamentally changed Joe Biden’s approach to foreign policy, which dates back to well before his presidency, and it has only grown stronger and amplified since he took office. ‘He is in office,’ the national security adviser said again.
Jake Sullivan has, unsurprisingly, had to answer many questions about Saudi Arabia, after Joe Biden himself threatened the kingdom with “consequences” for leading OPEC+ to a drastic cut in its production quotas.
Influential parliamentary democrats are calling on the American president to stop the historically massive sales of American arms to Riyadh, after this decision which according to Washington openly serves the interests of Russia.
The president’s adviser said there was no “imminent” decision on defense exports, but added: “It’s something we’ll be looking at.” »