By Chen Hanghui
US President Joe Biden recently signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024, providing financial support and policy guidance for the military preparedness of the US in the new fiscal year. The Act stipulates that the defense-related budgets for the fiscal year 2024 for the US Department of Defense, Department of Energy, intelligence departments, and the Department of State is USD 886.3 billion, expected to constitute 3.2 percent of the US GDP in 2024. This is the highest percentage in the post-Cold War era during peacetime.
The annual budget for the US military is USD 841.4 billion, which is 20 percent higher than the combined defense budgets of the next nine countries in the fiscal year 2023. In fact, this data only represents the baseline defense budget for the US military in fiscal year 2024. If emergency expenditures are included, the actual military spending for the entire year may exceed USD 900 billion. Such massive military spending exceeds reasonable security needs for the US and reveals its hegemonic ambitions.
The continuous increase in US military spending is primarily driven by an obsession with winning the so-called "major power competition." The Act hypes up the alleged "military threat from China" and contains numerous anti-China and containment clauses. For example, it designates China as an imaginary enemy, and allocates over USD 37 billion to upgrade the Nuclear triad strike capability, USD 169 billion for the procurement of new weapons and equipment, and USD 146 billion for the development of emerging critical technologies to maintain an overwhelming military advantage over China. Additionally, the Act allocates USD 14.7 billion to support the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a USD 3.2 billion increase from the previous fiscal year. The funds will be used to strengthen Guam's defense, establish a distributed base network in the Indo-Pacific, enhance the joint logistics support capabilities in the theater and accelerate the preparedness progress in the Indo-Pacific region. Furthermore, the act requires the US Department of Defense to conduct a feasibility analysis of a US naval blockade of fossil fuels to China in the event of armed conflict.
All these signs indicate that the US harbors sinister intentions, and its core purpose in strengthening military construction is to "win the competition against China in peacetime, and win the war against China if necessary."
What is particularly concerning is that the Act contains numerous clauses involving Taiwan and it openly interferes in China's internal affairs. These include further implementing arms sales to Taiwan and reporting to Congress on the delivery process every 180 days, coordinating with the defense department of Taiwan to establish a comprehensive training program to strengthen so-callled defense capabilities, expanding US-Taiwan military cybersecurity cooperation and sharing intelligence resources, studying the feasibility of establishing a US-Taiwan joint planning brigade, and regularly updating the action plan for evacuating non-combatants from Taiwan. All these provisions are preparations for war, and they fully indicate that the US is no longer satisfied with the traditional approach of "using Taiwan to contain China" and is attempting to transform Taiwan into a fortress that consumes China's resources.
We want to remind the US that Taiwan is part of the sacred territory of China. It is the inviolable duty of all Chinese people, including our compatriots in Taiwan, to accomplish the great task of reunifying the country. Any attempt to separate Taiwan from China goes against China's national interests and the Chinese people absolutely reject this. China will eventually reunify, and it is inevitable. Any attempt to "use Taiwan to contain China" is a dangerous provocation bound to fail.
At the same time, we strongly urge the US to abandon Cold War zero-sum thinking and ideological biases, and objectively and rationally assess China and its military development. China adheres to a national defense policy that is defensive in nature, keeps to the path of peaceful development, and advocates and practices the Global Security Initiative (GSI). It serves as a steadfast force in maintaining world peace. On the contrary, the US, to maintain its hegemony, has long engaged in military interventions around the world and caused turmoil and chaos. It has become a source of global instability.
Peace and development are the aspirations of the international community, and increasing military spending, especially building one's security on the insecurity of other countries, cannot achieve true security. The US actions of promoting "major power competition" and coercing regional countries to take sideswill find no support. If the US continues to cling to outdated security concepts and remainstrapped in the illusion of hegemony, it will only exacerbate the international community's camp-based confrontations and arms race, and the consequences will only boomerang on itself.
