Roundup: "Confrontational" U.S. national security plan comes under international fire

BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. national security strategy unveiled by President Donald Trump Monday has raised concerns worldwide with the international community calling it confrontational and contradictory and displaying an outdated Cold War mentality.

CONFRONTATIONAL, NOT CONSTRUCTIVE

Instead of promoting cooperation between countries, the new security strategy sparks confrontation in the global community and hampers constructive resolution of pressing international issues, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

"Its key message - 'to preserve peace through strength' - sets the line not for constructive cooperation with other countries on an equal basis and in the interests of a joint resolution of existing problems, but for confrontation," the statement read.

The ministry said the plan of action outlined in the strategy clearly demonstrated Washington's strive to retain its weakened domination and superiority in the global arena by all means.

A Kremlin spokesperson called the strategy "imperial". "There is a persistent reluctance to renounce the concept of a unipolar world, as well as rejection of a multipolar world," spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

"Destabilizing policies and actions by some countries to maintain their hegemony in pursuit of absolute power are responsible for instability in several parts of the world, including ours," the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Selcuk Colakoglu, director of the Turkish Center for Asia Pacific Studies, said the U.S. strategy indicates a more confrontational approach toward Russia, China, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

GAP BETWEEN TRUMP'S STRATEGY AND ACTION

The media and experts pointed out that Trump himself did not seem to be totally buying the new national security strategy himself. The president's viewpoint seemed to differ from that of his establishment-minded foreign policy advisors.

The Atlantic magazine said on Wednesday that's Trump's speech unveiling the strategy "butchered it in a revealing way." The strategy declares that the Trump administration will pursue a "strategy of principled realism." But what Trump said was, "Our new strategy is based on a principle, realism."

Also, the strategy presented Russia as a power bent on undermining U.S. interests and meddling in the U.S. presidential race last year. But in his speech, Trump did not mention the alleged Russian intervention in the election he won. Instead, he talked about a phone call from his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, mentioning how the latter had thanked him for providing intelligence to foil a major terror attack in Russia.

"Trump's speech highlighted the gap between his theories and his actions," said Norhan al-Sheikh, professor of international relations at Cairo University. "His speech is contradictory. He seems to be dealing with a hypothetical world."

After calling Russia and China two "revisionist" powers seeking to undermine U.S. influence, values and interests, Trump immediately called for building a "great partnership" with them, al-Sheikh pointed out.

Moreover, Trump demanded that NATO allies contribute more to the cost of protecting Europe, threatening to retreat otherwise. But his administration has been vowing to restore the U.S. presence in the international area, which had diminished under his predecessor Barack Obama.

FROM AMERICA FIRST TO AMERICA ALONE

"Trump's doctrine reveals a zero-sum vision that leads to a zero-sum strategy. It is a vision of an alien world that's hostile to U.S. interests," broadcaster Al Jazeera said in an article on Wednesday. "That's not America first; it's America alone."

China on Tuesday urged the United States to abandon its Cold War mentality and the outdated zero-sum game concept.

"We hope the U.S. side will take China-U.S. relations objectively and rationally, and abide by its commitments," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

Maintaining a healthy and stable bilateral relationship is the correct choice for the welfare of the two peoples and the international community, Hua added. Enditem