The United States will stand in the way of China's alleged Indo-Pacific regional change strategies according to Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin.

According to Austin, "the only country with both the will and, increasingly, the power to reshape its region and the international order," China seeks to "suit its authoritarian preferences."

In that regard, the US Department of Defense Secretary clearly said at the Reagan National Defense Forum, on Saturday, "We will not let that happen.”

The Pentagon chief added that “we stand in a decisive decade in Europe as well as in Asia” given that “the next few years will set the terms of our competition with the People’s Republic of China," explaining that "they will shape the future of security in Europe.”

In reaffirmation of US military interests, Austin stated that the country is “aligning its budget as never before to the China challenge” where he defended the spending noting that “in our imperfect world, deterrence does come through strength.”

.@SecDef: We’ve got the right strategy and the right operational concepts—and they’re driving us to make the right investments for our warfighters. pic.twitter.com/6ScKepdZks

— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) December 3, 2022

The Secretary noted that one of the US' main deterrence strategies is sea power, "so we're investing in the new construction of nine battle-force ships and our Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarines," adding that "just last month, one of our Ford-class nuclear-powered carriers made its first transit to Europe.”

The US also noted concern over Russia, where the Pentagon chief stated that the DoD "remains committed to arming Ukraine while avoiding escalating that conflict into a US war with Moscow."

Additionally, Austin highlighted that while “we will not be dragged into Putin’s war,” it remained evident that “between the two nuclear power threats, China remains the greater risk,” he added.

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