White House tells the Pentagon to quit talking about 'com | Navy Times

TITLE: White House tells the Pentagon to quit talking about 'competition' with China

The White House has barred Pentagon leaders from a key talking point when it comes to publicly describing the military challenges posed by China.

In February, Defense Secretary Ash Carter cited the "return to great power of competition" in the Asia-Pacific, "where China is rising."

Similarly, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson characterized China and Russia as rivals in this "great power competition" in his maritime strategy.

But a recent directive from the National Security Council ordered Pentagon leaders to strike out that phrase and find something less inflammatory, according to four officials familiar with the classified document, revealed here for the first time by Navy Times. Obama administration officials and some experts say "great power competition" inaccurately frames the U.S. and China as on a collision course, but other experts warn that China's ship building, man-made islands and expansive claims in the South and East China seas are hostile to U.S. interests. This needlessly muddies leaders' efforts to explain the tough measures needed to contain China's rise, these critics say.

“Their explanation is an exercise in nuance and complexity, purposely chosen by the administration to provide maximum flexibility, to prevent them from committing to a real structural approach to the most important national security challenge of our time,” said Bryan McGrath, a naval expert and retired destroyer skipper.

The Obama administration, however, believes that the term “great power competition” oversimplifies a complicated relationship with a rising superpower.

“Nothing is preordained about this relationship,” said a senior administration official said in a Sunday phone call. “We don't buy into the notion that an established and rising power are destined for conflict.”

Top Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook declined to comment on the NSC directive.

“As I am sure you know, we don't comment on internal policy documents or discussions, especially ones that may be incomplete, and so we will decline to comment here as well,” Cook said.

The Pentagon and the White House have grappled with how to engage with China while confronting their expansive military moves. Early this year, some Pentagon leaders urged tough responses to China's island-building, which threatens allies like the Philippines. In March, the White House similarly dissuaded military leaders from airing differences over the Chinese moves in the South China Sea so as not to complicate a high level meeting between the the U.S. and Chinese presidents.

The U.S. later adopted more muscular moves, like sending destroyers on close passes of China's fake islands and and sending more ships, troops and aircraft to rotate through the Philippines — a neighbor at odds with China over its claims.