By Jiao Liang
US President Biden has recently signed into law the record-high US$858 billion National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY2023 NDAA), which is US$45 billion more than what the US government proposed initially.
Echoing the National Defense Strategy released by the Department of Defense in October 2022, the FY2023 NDAA elaborately exaggerates the competition and confrontation with China and Russia. It will invest more in integrated deterrence, competitive actions and sustained advantages to serve the US strategic goal of dominating the world order, interfering in regional security affairs, and sabotaging peace and stability in regions.
The Act intentionally hypes up the so-called "China threats" and blatantly interferes in China's internal affairs with total disregard of facts. Contents like the US providing US$10 billion of military aid and US$2 billion of military loans to the Taiwan region in the next five years and accelerating its arms sales to the island are downright attempts to militarily support the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces and flame up tension and confrontation across the Taiwan Straits.
To deal with the so-called "pacing threats" from China, the Act allocates US$7.1 billion to the "Pacific Deterrence Initiative" to reinforce a broad defense cooperation network pivoted on bilateral relations between the US and its allies and based on security cooperation among the allies and further instigate bloc confrontation. In the meantime, using the pretext of "freedom of navigation", it will continue to carry out close-in reconnaissance and military provocation against China, and keep up the deterrence by deploying more new weapons and equipment, demonstrating and verifying new operational concepts, and organizing large-scale joint military exercises.
In Europe, to deal with the substantive threats posed by Russia, the US has tailored the US$4.6 billion European Deterrence Initiative, whereby it will speed up the process to get Finland and Sweden to join NATO, and plans to provide military aid to Moldova and Georgia to expand the anti-Russia group. Washington will also station more troops in Europe to further contain Russia, and continue supporting Ukraine with intelligence, equipment, commanding and manpower through the flexible use of the "backstage manipulation" model, so as to prolongate the Russia-Ukraine conflict and reach the strategic goal of weakening and exhausting Russia. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 also includes a US$45 billion package of military, economic and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
The US seeks all-round military superiority and absolute security
The FY2023 NDAA shows American military's greater emphasis on building all-round military superiority, paying special attention to nuclear, space, cyberspace, missile defense, and other capabilities. It intends to strike a balance between nuclear and conventional forces, emerging and traditional domains, and strategic offense and strategic defense.
Regarding the nuclear triad, the Act allocates US$34.4 billion to develop equipment such as the Columbia-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine and the B-21 Raider long-range bomber. US$21.7 billion is allocated to space and space-based systems, mainly to test the space-based infrared system and develop "Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Geosynchronous Earth Orbit". With regards cyberspace and information system, US$58 billion is allocated to advance multi-domain combat cloud capabilities and form five cyber taskforces. Another US$24.7 billion is set aside for integrated air defense and anti-missile system to develop next-generation interceptors, glide phase interceptors, and other equipment.
It's clear that the Act has continued the sustained and rapid growth of America's defense budget, meaning the country has not changed its mind or resolution about increasing defense input to beef up military strengths. Its defense budget, unparalleled by any other country and accounting for more than one-third of the rest of the world's total defense budget, declares the superpower's unchanged strategic goal to seek military superiority and maintain global domination. That the budget is obviously tilted toward the "strategic competition" with China and Russia, the development of high-end military capabilities, such as subversive technologies and the domination of global military operations, showcases that the US remains the familiar bully as ever, and now it is actively advancing high-end war preparedness and deterring and containing other countries.
While peace and development are the common wish of the international community, the US chooses to go against the world by taking a path of belligerence. The pandemic is still lingering with sporadic outbursts and inflation has reached a historical high, yet American politicians seem to care more about whether the Pentagon has enough money to squander than whether the American people have enough to get by.
(The author is from the College of War Studies, Academy of Military Sciences)
