China poses a greater threat to the US

Jahanbakhsh Izadi, International affairs expert

US CAPITOL

According to a new document released by the US National Defense Strategy in October, China, Russia, North Korea and Iran are declared as the main threats to the security of the United States. However, these countries don’t pose similar threats to the US and the threats are qualitatively and quantitatively different.

According to the document, China is the biggest threat to the US because it is more powerful than the other mentioned countries.

But what has caused China to become the first threat to the US national security is Beijing’s entry into areas that have been the US relative advantage and the factor behind its superiority and hegemony for a long time.

China's strong entry into the economy, stunning developments in technology and security planning are among the most important areas which have caused concern in Washington.

Russia does not threaten the US as China do. Because it is not a major economic power in the international arena and also is not a rival for the US in terms of the new technologies. The only factor which has been the global advantage for Russia is its military power.

Relying on its military power, Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine, but, despite the expectations it has not achieved considerable military success there. The Ukraine war is now indicating that the Russians are no longer a major threat to the United States.

Therefore, no country other than China has the capability to compete with the US or threaten it.

Accordingly, the way the US will confront China and Russia is also different. In fact, the Americans have accepted that China could be a serious rival or an international pole of power, while they look at the Russians as a regional power.

On the other hand, the volume of US trade exchange with China is not comparable with that of Russia and Washington's focus is mainly on Beijing. The trade balance between China and the United States is about 770 billion dollars, while the volume of trade between the US and Russia before the beginning of the Ukraine war was about 26 billion dollars, of which 23 billion dollars was the share of US exports to Russia.

Therefore, to the same extent that the US perceives China as a strategic rival or a major threat, it feels that Russia's power has declined. For this reason, the way it is behaving with China is very reasonable and complex, while its confrontation with Russia is more open and different.