U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro issued his strategic guidance to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in October, making clear that China was the department’s top strategic priority and an organizing principle for institutional reforms, calling it “the pacing challenge against which we must plan our warfighting strategies and investments.” He warned that China was the department’s most significant long-term challenge.
According to Del Toro, the real upshot for the navy and marine corps is that “for the first time in at least a generation, we have a strategic competitor who possesses naval capabilities that rival our own, and who seeks to aggressively employ its forces to challenge U.S. principles, partnerships, and prosperity.”
The People’s Liberation Army Navy’s burgeoning capabilities in relation to the U.S. Navy were put in stark relief by the Pentagon’s annual report on Chinese military activities, released last week.
