Donald Trump’s national strategy targets China, Russia ‘attempting to erode American security and prosperity’
US president said China and Russia ‘are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries’ and ‘expand their influence’
US President Donald Trump has accused China and Russia of seeking to challenge American power and attempting to erode US security interests, even as he presses the two countries to contain North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
“China and Russia challenge American power, influence and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity,” Trump said, according to a document of his first national security strategy speech released by the White House about an hour before he delivered it.
Trump said the two countries “are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence”.
The US president also claimed that China and Russia were developing “advanced weapons and capabilities” which could threaten the United States’ “critical infrastructure and our command and control architecture”.
He did not give any specifics about the weapons.
Distracted US leaves window of opportunity for Beijing to expand power in South China Sea
Trump continued to criticise Beijing’s moves in the South China Sea, saying: “[China’s] efforts to build and militarise outposts in the South China Sea endanger the free flow of trade, threaten the sovereignty of other nations, and undermine regional stability.”