When the United States released its National Defence Strategy 2026 last week, it signalled a notable shift in Washington’s China policy under President Donald Trump. Anchored in the National Security Strategy 2025, the document reframes China not as an imminent military or ideological enemy, but as a long-term strategic competitor to be managed through deterrence, economic strength and restraint rather than confrontation. This recalibration is central to Trump’s broader effort to reorder American priorities, and it carries important implications for countries navigating US–China competition. For Pakistan, it offers meaningful strategic relief.

The new defence strategy is unusually explicit in what it rejects. It states that the United States does not seek to dominate, isolate or weaken China. Nor does it aim to humiliate or strangle it. Instead, the focus is on preventing any power from dominating others, maintaining balance, and avoiding escalation while preserving deterrence. China is recognised as a major power whose rise cannot be reversed through containment alone.

Managing China

This outlook reflects a broader reassessment in Washington. China is no longer approached primarily through ideological confrontation or crisis-driven military planning. Competition is defined instead in economic, technological and industrial terms. Military strength remains important, but it is no longer presented as the organising principle of policy. Stability and long-term positioning have taken precedence over urgency and brinkmanship.

Trump’s National Security Strategy reinforces this shift. It frames the Indo-Pacific as the world’s economic centre of gravity and places economic competitiveness, supply chains and industrial resilience at the heart of US strategy. Military deterrence is retained to prevent conflict, not to provoke it. The underlying assumption is that sustained competition is unavoidable, but war is neither inevitable nor desirable.

Pakistan’s Strategic Role As A Diplomatic Bridge Amid China–US Rivalry And Tensions

China is no longer treated as a war to be prepared for, but as a rivalry to be managed.

Equally important is the reordering of American global commitments. The National Defence Strategy 2026 places clear responsibility on Europe to take primary charge of its own security, including support for Ukraine. NATO allies are expected to shoulder greater burdens, while the United States narrows its focus towards homeland defence, economic renewal and long-term strategic balance. This reflects Trump’s long-held view that American power has been overstretched by underwriting global security without adequate returns.

US-backed de-escalation, combined with Pakistan’s demonstrated deterrence capability, restored Islamabad’s strategic visibility. It also challenged long-standing assumptions about India’s role as Washington’s primary strategic partner in South Asia

This marks a clear break from earlier US approaches to China. Through the 1990s and into the 2000s, Washington largely sought to accommodate China’s rise through engagement and economic integration. Over time, this approach gave way to growing mistrust. The shift became explicit under President Obama, whose “pivot to Asia” redirected US strategic focus away from the Middle East and towards the........

© The Friday Times