OPINION:
Every student of American history remembers well President Teddy Roosevelt’s oft-quoted description of his foreign policy as: “speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”
Unfortunately, it is beginning to look like President Biden’s foreign policy is to speak loudly and hope that his smaller stick will carry us through.
This past week has witnessed the Biden administration moving out on their grand strategy of investing heavily in diplomacy as the best means of dealing with China while avoiding any kind of a commitment to a significant defense buildup.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin launched an important diplomatic mission to Japan and South Korea last week for the purpose of holding talks with their counterparts to reaffirm the importance of our relationships with these two countries and to send signals to China regarding America’s intention to push back in the face of an increasingly assertive China and a hostile North Korea.
While in Japan, Mr. Blinken warned China against using “coercion and aggression.” He said that “[w]e will push back when necessary when China uses coercion or aggression to try to get its way.” Mr. Austin noted in his statement that, “Our goal is to make sure that we maintain a competitive edge over China or anyone else that would want to threaten us or our alliance.”
The joint communique issued at the end of the visit sought to convey a message to the Chinese leadership that America and its Asian allies would oppose “… coercion and destabilizing behavior“ and also emphasized the unwavering commitment of the United States “… to the defense of Japan through the full range of its capabilities, including nuclear.”
Not surprisingly, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry responded promptly with a protest charging that the joint statement “… maliciously attacked China’s foreign policy, seriously interfered in China’s internal affairs and tried to harm China’s interests.
A second diplomatic “shoe” dropped on Thursday when Mr. Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan took what was described as a “tough minded” approach in their meeting in Alaska with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his senior adviser Yang Jiechi.
However, Mr. Blinken got a prompt and very blunt response from the Chinese foreign minister when he replied that “[t]he United States isn’t qualified to speak to China from a position of strength.”
The Chinese leadership has a dogmatic view that America is in decline both culturally, politically and militarily and they will not be impressed with Mr. Blinken’s diplomatic tough talk unless it is backed up with some very significant concrete actions.
We are now at a very critical stage and the Biden administration better wake up and smell the roses. The danger of a war with China is very real and our new president better send a very clear and unmistakable message to China that we are prepared today to fight and win a war with China and that he will now be asking Congress for a new and energetic defense buildup in his first budget request in order to ensure that America remains strong and capable militarily well into the future.
What can and should be done?
Our nation needs to develop the same kind of courageous and necessary response to this threat that we saw this past year in our nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our government recognized the threat and generated a “can-do” attitude and shocked the world by doing the impossible … developing numerous vaccines at warp speed instead of surrendering to the naysayers who said it can’t be done.
The new Biden administration needs to reject the nay-sayers who say that defense spending will have to take a back seat to other priorities and, instead, work with Congress to mount a new Operation Warp Speed 2.0 to rebuild our nation’s military power with an urgent focus on restoring our nation’s unquestioned maritime superiority. That maritime superiority is what helped to keep the peace for 75 years and that is what is needed now.
Let’s start by having Congress pass a Naval Restoration Appropriations Act of 2021 that would fund an urgent naval buildup utilizing any and all available authorities such as those provided under the Defense Production Act to ramp up the domestic industrial base and expedite the production of:
• 20 new DDG 51 Flt III multi-mission destroyers with a 60/40% split between the two competing shipyards based on price.
• 10 additional Virginia-class submarines.
• Extend the life of five of the newest Los Angeles-class Attack Submarines.
• 5,000 additional anti-ship and land-attack long-range munitions of various types.
• 10 barges each with 32 Mark 41 or Mark 57 VLS missile cells per barge for deployment with Marine units in Indo-Pacific region utilizing the Expeditionary Transfer Dock and/or the newer Expeditionary Mobile Base (ESB) ships for mobility of the barges.
• And fund $2 billion in additional Navy Research and Development funding to accelerate the development of DDG (X) large surface combatant to achieve a final design within the next two years.
These are the kinds of actions that will not only boost the U.S. Navy’s combat capabilities on an urgent basis but will send an unmistakable message to the Chinese leadership that America will meet the requirement for maintaining an unambiguous ability to fight and win any conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.
• Christopher M. Lehman Sr. served as a defense staffer in the U.S. Senate and in the Reagan administration at the State Department and later as special assistant for national security affairs to President Reagan. He is the chairman of the board of the Landing Craft Support Museum foundation.
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