downplays

The United States no longer views China as a top security priority, according to the Pentagon’s 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS), as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to focus on the Western Hemisphere in a break from a decade of foreign policy that saw Beijing as the biggest threat to US security and economic interests.

The strategy document says US allies and partners such as South Korea “must shoulder their fair share of the burden of our collective defense”. This is in line with Trump’s rhetoric calling on US allies in Europe and the Asia Pacific to step up and boost their defences to counter security threats from Russia and North Korea.

Released late on Friday, the 34-page Department of Defense blueprint comes weeks after the announcement of Trump’s National Security Strategy, which seeks to “restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere” by reinforcing the Monroe Doctrine, a 19th-century US policy opposed to European colonisation and interference in the Americas.

So what’s new in the NDS? And how will it impact US allies in the Asia Pacific?

What’s in Trump’s National Defense Strategy?

The major shift in the NDS lies in the shifting approach of the US Defense Department, which considers security of the “homeland and Western Hemisphere” its primary concern.

The document noted that the US military would be guided by four central priorities: defend the homeland, push allies around the world away from reliance on the US military, strengthen defence industrial bases and deter China as opposed to a policy of containment.

The Pentagon document said relations with China will now be approached through “strength, not confrontation”.

“It is neither America’s duty nor in our nation’s interest to act everywhere on our own, nor will we make up for allied security shortfalls from their leaders’ own irresponsible choices,” the document said.

Instead, the US would prioritise “threats to Americans’ interests”, it said.

The Pentagon said it would provide “military and commercial access” to key locations, such as Greenland, and construct the president’s “Golden Dome” missile defence system for North America.

Trump’s threat to take over Greenland has roiled transatlantic ties while the US abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3 has sent shockwaves across the world and raised questions about the undermining of international law. Trump has justified US actions in Venezuela as necessary to secure US security and economic interests.

The unclassified version of the NDS, which is released every four years, is uncharacteristically laden with photos of the defence secretary and president and repeatedly targets the administration of former President Joe Biden.

Under Biden, the Pentagon described “revisionist powers” like China and Russia as the “central challenge” to US security.

The NDS followed the release in December of the National Security Strategy, which argued that Europe is facing civilisational collapse and did not cast Russia as a threat to US interests.

The NDS noted that Germany’s economy dwarfs Russia’s, arguing that, therefore, Washington’s NATO allies are “strongly positioned to take primary responsibility for Europe’s conventional defense, with critical but more limited US support”.

The strategy blueprint noted that this includes taking the lead in supporting Ukraine’s defence.

The document also addressed the question of Iran, repeating the US position that Tehran cannot develop nuclear weapons. It also described Israel as a “model ally”. “And we have an opportunity now to further empower it to defend itself and promote our shared interests, building on President Trump’s historic efforts to secure peace in the Middle East,” it said.

What’s the impact on US allies?

First, Europe is pushed further down on Washington’s list of priorities and has been told to shoulder more responsibility for its own defence. Many NATO allies had already increased their defence spending and offered to provide security guarantees to Ukraine against Russian threats.

For South Korea and Japan, the US Defense Department recognised the “direct military threat” from North Korea, led by Kim Jong Un, and noted that Pyongyang’s “nuclear forces are increasingly capable of threatening the US Homeland”.

About 28,500 US soldiers are stationed in South Korea as part of a defence treaty to deter the North Korean military threat. Seoul has raised its defence budget by 7.5 percent for this year after pressure from Trump to share more of the defence burden.

The NDS noted that South Korea “is capable of taking primary responsibility for deterring North Korea, with critical but more limited US support”, which could result in a reduction of US forces on the Korean Peninsula. “This shift in the balance of responsibility is consistent with America’s interest in updating US force posture on the Korean Peninsula,” the document said.

Harsh Pant, a geopolitical analyst based in New Delhi, said the defence strategy is line with the Trump administration’s push to get allies to take control of their own security.

“The Trump administration has been advocating that the relationship that they see now in terms of security cooperation with their allies is one where allies will have to bear a heavier burden and pay their share,” Pant told Al Jazeera.

“America’s allies in the Indo-Pacific will have to be much more cognisant of their own role in shaping the regional security architecture. America will be there, and it will continue to have an overarching presence, but it won’t foot the bill in ways that it has done in the past,” said Pant, who is the vice president of the Observer Research Foundation think tank.

North Korea routinely criticises the US military presence in South Korea and their joint military drills, which the allies say are defensive but which Pyongyang calls dress rehearsals for an invasion.

Seoul’s Ministry of National Defence said on Saturday that the US forces based in the country are the “core” of the alliance, adding: “We will be cooperating closely with the US to continue developing it in that direction.”

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said: “It is inconceivable that South Korea – which spends 1.4 times North Korea’s gross domestic product on defence and possesses the world’s fifth largest military – cannot defend itself. Self-reliant national defence is the most fundamental principle amid an increasingly unstable international environment.”

Lee made the comments after visiting China this month in an effort to improve ties with the country, which is Seoul’s largest economic partner, its top destination for exports and a primary source of its imports. Seoul wants to cultivate better ties with Beijing, which wields influence over North Korea and its leader.

What about Taiwan?

When the previous NDS was unveiled under Biden in 2022, it said the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security was China’s “coercive and increasingly aggressive endeavor to refashion the Indo-Pacific region and the international system to suit its interests and authoritarian preferences”. A part of that strategy, Washington said at the time, was Beijing’s ambitions concerning Taiwan.

The Pentagon said four years ago that it “will support Taiwan’s asymmetric self-defense commensurate with the evolving [Chinese] threat and consistent with our one China policy”.

China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has threatened to take it by force if necessary. In a New Year’s address, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to achieve the “reunification” of China and Taiwan, calling Beijing’s long-held goal “unstoppable”. Chinese forces have carried out wargames in the Taiwan Strait, which separates the two.

In this year’s NDS, the US Defense Department does not mention Taiwan by name.

“The American people’s security, freedom, and prosperity are …  directly linked to our ability to trade and engage from a position of strength in the Indo-Pacific,” the document said, adding that the Defense Department would “maintain a favourable balance of military power in the Indo-Pacific”, which it called “the world’s economic center of gravity”, to deter Chinese threats.

It said the US does not seek to dominate, humiliate or strangle China but “to ensure that neither China nor anyone else can dominate us or our allies”. Instead, the US wants “a decent peace, on terms favourable to Americans but that China can also accept and live under”, the blueprint said, adding that, therefore, the US would deter China by “strength, not confrontation”.

“We will erect a strong denial defense along the First Island Chain (FIC),” the NDS said, referring to the first chain of islands off the East Asian coast. “We will also urge and enable key regional allies and partners to do more for our collective defense.”

Pant said it would be a mistake on the part of China “to read this as America leaving its allies”. He added that “there is an undercurrent [in Trump’s foreign policy] of how America wants to see a stable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific where China is not the dominant force.”

“And I think, therefore, for China, if it reads this as a weakening of American commitment to its allies, that would not really be in consonance with the spirit of this defence strategy.”

LeBron James downplayed any suggestion of a rift between him and Lakers governor Jeanie Buss on Thursday following an ESPN report that detailed how the now-minority owner of the team had started to turn on the Lakers superstar.

“Quite frankly, I don’t really get involved in that, or the reports, or whatever the case may be,” James said after the Lakers lost 112-104 to the Clippers at Intuit Dome.

The report detailed how years of in-fighting between the Buss siblings led to the family selling a majority stake of the team to Dodgers owner Mark Walter last year. As the franchise struggled to recapture the magic established under Jerry Buss, Jeanie had grown distant and resentful, the report said, that James didn’t take accountability for involvement with the decision to acquire Russell Westbrook in 2021. She reportedly floated the possibility of trading James to the Clippers in 2022 and didn’t believe James was grateful when the Lakers drafted Bronny James in 2024.

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Lakers star LeBron James responds to a report stating there is a rift between him and Lakers governor Jeanie Buss.

But LeBron James brushed it off.

“At the end of the day, when I came to this organization, my whole mindset was about restoring excellence,” James said. “The things that I seen growing up with the Lakers — obviously, I didn’t get an opportunity to watch Showtime [era], but I know the history. Then the early 2000s with Shaq [O’Neal] and [Kobe Bryant], and then what Kob did and those couple runs with him and Pau [Gasol]. So my whole mindset was like, ‘How can I get that feeling back to the Lakers organization?’ … And then I was able to do that along with, you know, 14, 16, other guys winning the championship, bringing the championship here.”

The Lakers’ 2020 championship — in James’ second season with the team — helped the franchise tie rival Boston for the most championships in league history. But the Celtics have since pulled ahead with an 18th NBA title.

The Lakers have won two playoff series in the five seasons since their last championship and have been eliminated in the first round in back-to-back seasons. They stunned the NBA by acquiring Luka Doncic in a midseason trade last season but are struggling to hang on in the competitive Western Conference. They have lost six of their last nine games.

James scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to help the Lakers (26-17) cut a 26-point third-quarter deficit to three points with 1:28 remaining when James converted a three-point play. But the Clippers, who have won 14 of their last 17 games starting with their last win over the Lakers on Dec. 20, answered with a reverse dunk by Ivica Zubac and a dagger three-pointer from John Collins.

“LeBron, for what seems like the 20th straight game, just gave us — he emptied the tank and gave us everything he had,” coach JJ Redick said.

After he missed the first 14 games of the season because of sciatica, James is averaging 22.5 points, six rebounds and 6.9 assists per game. Since guard Austin Reaves re-injured his calf on Christmas Day, James has averaged 24.9 points and played more than 31 minutes in each of the 12 games, including playing two back-to-backs in a week.

The 41-year-old James has achieved some of the most significant milestones of his career with the Lakers. He became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in purple and gold. He is the first player to play 23 NBA seasons. Now in his eighth season with the Lakers, L.A. has been his continuous NBA home for longer than any other city, not counting the separate seven- and four-year stints he had in Cleveland.

When he came to the Lakers, James told Buss that he wanted to return the Lakers to glory, he recalled while accepting the NBA Finals most valuable player award in 2020. Buss, standing nearby in the socially distant trophy ceremony, smiled and clutched her hands to her chest when James brought up her father.

Lakers star LeBron James dunks over Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis on Jan. 9 at Crypto.com Arena.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

When asked Thursday of how he thought the partnership with Jeanie Buss has been, James said he thought “it was good, but somebody could see it another way.

“So it’s always two sides of the coin,” James continued.

The two have not talked since the report was published Wednesday, but that’s not out of the ordinary, James attested.

“We never talked,” James said. “I don’t understand. It’s not like me and Jeanie be on the phone talking, guys. I never heard a report about that. Don’t make something out of it that it’s not. It’s always been mutual, it’s always been respect, it’s always been a great partnership.”

LeBron James hugs Jeanie Buss after the Lakers’ NBA championship win on Oct. 11, 2020.

(Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images)

“I’ve been here two years, everybody in this organization appreciates LeBron and appreciates what he’s done for the Lakers,” Redick said before the game. “He’s carried on the legacy and also truthfully the burden of being a superstar for the Los Angeles Lakers for eight years. And he’s done it with class. And then personally, I can just speak to it: I’ve enjoyed coaching him at the highest level, like 10 out of 10. That’s not to say LeBron and I don’t have our disagreements, but I know with that guy, he’s gonna put everything into this and it’s been awesome to coach.”

James picked up his $52.6 million player option this summer. It’s the first time in his 23-year NBA career that he’s played on the final year of a deal. He will be up for free agency this summer along with several other players, including guard Austin Reaves, forward Rui Hachimura and center Deandre Ayton.

With the trade deadline approaching, James brushed off questions about what steps the Lakers can do to improve their roster. As he turned to walk out of the locker room, James pointed to his hoodie that was printed with the name of his wife Savannah’s podcast.

“Everybody’s crazy,” James said.

A.J. Brown had nothing to say — to reporters after the Philadelphia Eagles’ playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers, that is.

Philadelphia’s star receiver did have plenty to say to Coach Nick Sirianni — and vice-versa — during a sideline spat late in the second quarter of the game that eventually marked an end to the Eagles’ attempt at defending their Super Bowl title from last season.

Massive winds blew through Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field throughout the game, possibly contributing to a rough outing for Brown, who caught three of the seven passes for 25 yards and tied a career high with two dropped passes.

One of those drops came on 3rd-and-9 with a little more than two minutes remaining in the first half. Brown had created some separation from 49ers cornerback Renardo Green deep along the right sideline, but the pass from quarterback Jalen Hurts bounced off the receiver’s fingers.

Brown was slow to get off the field following the play, prompting Sirianni to run yelling down the sideline and eventually confront the three-time Pro Bowl selection face-to-face. The men appeared to exchange words for a few seconds before being separated by Eagles chief security officer Dom DiSandro. Brown went on to remove his helmet and yell more in Sirianni’s direction.

While Brown did not speak to reporters after the 23-19 loss, Sirianni downplayed the incident during his postgame news conference.

“I was trying to get him off the field because we were about to punt, and that was really it,” Siranni said. “I love A.J. I think he knows how I feel about him. I have a special relationship with him. We probably went through every emotion you can possibly have together.

“We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together, we’ve yelled at each other. We’re both emotional. I was trying to get him off the field — you know, that happens in this game.”

Brown’s other drop came on a third-and-5 from the Philadelphia 40 with a little more than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and the Eagles trailing by four. Brown was open over the middle for what could have been an easy first down, but the pass again bounced off his hands. Philadelphia converted the fourth down on a pass to tight end Dallas Goedert, but the last-gasp drive eventually stalled at the San Francisco 21.

Sirianni said of Brown: “He’s got the best hands I’ve ever seen, you know, the way he catches the ball, the amount of different types of catches that he’s made. When you get as many targets as he does, you’re going to have some drops. Not ever using it as an excuse, but the ball moves differently in the wind.

“I thought Jalen did a good job of cutting the wind a lot of times. But, yeah, we had some uncharacteristic drops. I think the one that [Brown] had, we overcame it the very next play with Dallas, but I know [Brown will] beat himself up on that. And I know A.J. — he’ll catch 9,000 balls with the one drop that he had.”

Brown got off to a slow start this season and wasn’t shy about voicing his frustrations. His production increased as the year went on, and Brown finished the season with 78 catches for 1,003 yards and seven touchdowns.

Overall, the Eagles’ offense declined under first-year coordinator Kevin Patullo, dropping from seventh in scoring and eighth in yards last year to 19th in scoring and 24th in yards this season. Asked Sunday about Patullo’s overall performance, Sirianni said there “will be time to evaluate everybody’s performance.”

“Right now, I feel for all our guys in the locker room, all the players, all the coaches, the front office, everybody that works so hard, the fans that come out and support us, Mr. [team owner Jeffrey] Lurie. I feel for all of us, all of them, and there’ll be time to evaluate everything coming up.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jan. 1 (Asia Today) — Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife sent New Year’s greetings to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un but North Korean state media gave the exchange scant attention and did not publish Xi’s message, according to diplomatic sources in Beijing.

The Korean Central News Agency mentioned Xi’s greeting in a roundup of messages from multiple foreign leaders, including Vietnam’s president and Myanmar’s interim president, the sources said. Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the ruling Workers’ Party, also carried the item in a brief reference placed low in its coverage.

Neither outlet disclosed the contents of Xi’s greeting, the sources said, in contrast with extensive coverage of Kim’s exchange with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

North Korea reported that Kim sent Putin a New Year’s message Saturday and published it on Rodong Sinmun’s front page, the sources said. North Korea also said Putin sent Kim a New Year’s message Thursday.

The sources said North Korea published the full text of New Year’s letters exchanged by Kim and Putin a year ago, underscoring what it portrayed as close ties between Pyongyang and Moscow.

The muted handling of Xi’s greeting comes despite signs of a thaw in North Korea-China relations after a summit in Beijing on Sept. 3 during China’s Victory Day anniversary events, the sources said. Even so, they said this year’s coverage suggested lingering frictions have not been fully resolved.

The sources said Kim also exchanged New Year’s greetings with Hur Jong-man, chairman of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan. They added that the General Association of Koreans in China sent Kim a lengthy congratulatory message.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

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