Washington. US Indo-Pacific Command’s sobering assessment demands urgent action as some leaders are already paying attention.

Washington. Rep. Mac Thornberry, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, released draft legislation that would require the secretary of defense to establish and resource an Indo-Pacific Deterrence Initiative, or IPDI.

While details should be subject to good-faith negotiations on Capitol Hill and with the Pentagon, an IPDI would help close the gap between the capabilities the US military needs in the Indo-Pacific and the capabilities it currently has.

An IPDI would accomplish this by addressing serious shortfalls in force posture, procurement, infrastructure and logistics, while strengthening partner capacity and interoperability as well as improving training and exercise opportunities.

Like the European Deterrence Initiative, or EDI — a similar programme designed to deter Russia — an IPDI would bring sustained focus on less glamorous but equally vital capabilities, especially infrastructure and logistics.

An IPDI would also facilitate effective congressional oversight and demonstrate tangible American commitment that helps deter aggression. That’s essential to the successful implementation of the 2018 NDS, which concluded that “[l]ong-term strategic competitions with China and Russia are the principal priorities” for the Pentagon.

The national security threat from Moscow is certainly formidable. But the department has rightly concluded that China’s large and growing economy, combined with its rapidly modernising military, make it the “greater threat.”

The great power competition with China is global and plays out in every region, including the West Asia, but the outcome of the US-China great power competition in the Indo-Pacific will have an outsized impact on US security and prosperity for decades.

Indeed, the ability of the US to work with like-minded allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific — such as Japan, Australia, India and Taiwan — to deter Chinese aggression may represent one of the most important challenges of the 21st century.

Last July, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Mark Milley called China “the main challenge to the US national security over the next 50-100 years.” Recognising this fact, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has described the Indo-Pacific as America’s “priority theater.”

Despite this laudable effort to establish strategic priorities, implementation remains a key challenge.