US outlines hard-edged defence posture to deter China in Indo-Pacific

The United States has outlined a more rigid defence posture to counter China's growing military and economic influence in the Indo-Pacific.

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In its new National Security Strategy, the Trump administration calls the region "one of the next century's key economic and geopolitical battlegrounds" and says the US must be prepared to "deny aggression anywhere in the First Island Chain".

The strategy, released later this week, says earlier US policy toward Beijing was built on "mistaken American assumptions about China". It argues that decades of engagement strengthened China at the expense of American workers and industries.