The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the president of the United States for consideration of national security,military,and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House,it is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States,and composed of senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials.
The relationship between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United States of America (U.S.) has been complex since the establishment of the PRC and the retreat of the government of the Republic of China (ROC) to Taiwan in 1949. They have close economic ties and are significantly intertwined,yet they also have a hegemonic great power rivalry throughout the Asia-Pacific and beyond. While both countries have mutual political,economic,and security interests,there are also unresolved concerns,with differentiating views such as on the political status of Taiwan or territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Both countries are economic juggernauts –China and the United States are respectively the world's second and first-largest economies by nominal GDP and the first and second-largest economies by GDP PPP;collectively they make up 44.2% of the world GDP by nominal and 34.7% by PPP.
Michèle Angélique Flournoy is an American defense policy advisor and former government official. She was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy under President Bill Clinton and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy under President Barack Obama.
Ashton Baldwin Carter was an American government official and academic who served as the 25th United States Secretary of Defense from February 2015 to January 2017. He later served as director of the Belfer Center for Science &International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School.
James Norman Mattis is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general who served as the 26th US secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. During his 44 years in the Marine Corps,he commanded forces in the Persian Gulf War,the War in Afghanistan,and the Iraq War.
The military budget is the largest portion of the discretionary United States federal budget allocated to the Department of Defense,or more broadly,the portion of the budget that goes to any military-related expenditures. The military budget pays the salaries,training,and health care of uniformed and civilian personnel,maintains arms,equipment and facilities,funds operations,and develops and buys new items. The budget funds five branches of the U.S. military:the Army,Navy,Marine Corps,Air Force,and Space Force.
Lloyd James Austin III is a retired United States Army four-star general who has served as the 28th United States secretary of defense since January 22,2021. He is the first African American to serve in this role. Austin previously served as the 12th commander of United States Central Command (CENTCOM) from 2013 to 2016.
The United States foreign policy toward the People's Republic of China originated during the Cold War. At that time,the U.S. had a containment policy against communist states. The leaked Pentagon Papers indicated the efforts by the U.S. to contain China through military actions undertaken in the Vietnam War. The containment policy at East Asian island arcs is called "the First and Second island chains". President Richard Nixon's China rapprochement signaled a shift in focus to gain leverage in containing the Soviet Union. Formal diplomatic ties between the U.S. and China were established in 1979,and with normalized trade relations since 2000,the U.S. and China have been linked by closer economic ties and more cordial relations.
John Charles Rood is an American national security adviser and former government official who served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from January 2018 to February 2020. Before that,he was Senior Vice President of Lockheed Martin where he oversaw international business. He also served as vice president for Domestic Business Development at Lockheed Martin and he was a vice president at the Raytheon Company.
The United States Department of Defense is an executive branch department of the federal government of the United States charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the U.S. government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces. The DoD is the largest employer in the world,with over 1.34 million active-duty service members as of June 2022. The DoD also maintains over 778,000 National Guard and reservists,and over 747,000 civilians bringing the total to over 2.87 million employees. Headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington,Virginia,just outside Washington,D.C.,the DoD's stated mission is to provide "the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security".
The bilateral relationship between Taiwan and the United States of America is the subject of the Japan-U.S. relations during Japanese colonial rule and China-U.S.relations before the government of the Republic of China (ROC) led by the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan and its neighboring islands as a result of the Chinese Civil War and until the U.S. ceased recognizing the ROC in 1979 as "China" as a result of the One China policy following the Joint Communiquéon the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations under the Carter administration. Prior to relations with the ROC,the United States had diplomatic relations with the Qing dynasty beginning on June 16,1844 until 1912.
Richard Lee Armitage is an American former diplomat and government official.
Evelyn Nicolette Farkas is an American national security advisor,author,and foreign policy analyst. She is the current executive director of the McCain Institute,a nonprofit focused on democracy,human rights,and character-driven leadership.
Robert Orton Work is an American national security professional who served as the 32nd United States Deputy Secretary of Defense for both the Obama and Trump administrations from 2014 to 2017. Prior to that,Work was the United States Under Secretary of the Navy from 2009 to 2013,and before that served as a colonel in the United States Marine Corps;Work retired in 2001 and worked as a civilian at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) and the George Washington University in various positions relating to military and strategic study. From 2013 to 2014,he was the CEO of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). After his time as Deputy Secretary of Defense,he went on to serve on the board of Raytheon.
The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs,or ASD (IPSA),is the principal advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (USD(P)) and the Secretary of Defense on international security strategy and policy on issues of DoD interest that relate to the governments and defense establishments of the nations and international organizations within the Asia-Pacific region. The position was originally titled Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs but was renamed by the Trump Administration alongside the renaming of the United States Indo-Pacific Command.
Ezra Cohen,also known as Ezra Cohen-Watnick,is an American intelligence official who served as the acting under secretary of defense for intelligence during the Trump Administration. He previously served as the acting assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict,national security adviser to the United States attorney general and as a former senior director for intelligence programs for the United States National Security Council (NSC).
Matthew Forbes Pottinger is an American former journalist and U.S. Marine Corps officer who served as the United States deputy national security advisor from September 22,2019,until January 7,2021. Previously the Asia director on the National Security Council since 2017,his tenure was unusual among senior aides serving under President Trump for its length,given an administration marked by high turnover. Pottinger worked to develop the Trump administration's policies towards China.
Mark Thomas Esper is an American politician and manufacturing executive who served as the 27th United States secretary of defense from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party,he had previously served as the 23rd U.S. secretary of the Army from November 2017 to July 2019.
The Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) is a United States federal law that imposed sanctions on Iran,North Korea,and Russia. The bill was passed by the Senate on July 27,2017,98–2,after it passed the House 419–3. The bill was signed into law on August 2,2017 by President Donald Trump,who nevertheless believed that the legislation was "seriously flawed".
The Project 2049 Institute,also known as Project 2049,is a non-partisan think tank based in Arlington,Virginia focusing on United States foreign policy and security issues in the Asia-Pacific region,particularly as it relates to China and Taiwan. It is non-profit supported by "grants and contracts from the U.S. government,like-minded governments,charitable foundations,major corporations,and individual donors."
