Ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s meeting this week in Geneva with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, almost all of Washington’s eyes remain firmly fixed on another rival. Last week, the U.S. Defense Department announced it completed reviewing U.S. national security strategy toward China. Although officials are vague on the review’s substance or how it will be implemented, that’s less important than what the review itself signals: the intent to infuse the Pentagon, and indeed the entire U.S. government, with the overarching goal of bracing for long-term strategic competition with China.
That’s been a constant refrain for Biden even before he took office, framing China’s rise as the United States’ central challenge of the century. Unless the United States regains its competitive and technological edge, Biden warned, China is “going to eat our lunch.”
