Pentagon shifts focus from China to Western Hemisphere, makes no mention of Taiwan

The Pentagon released a 34-page National Defense Strategy on Jan. 23, 2026, the first since 2022. The document shifts U.S. military focus from countering China to asserting 'dominance in the Western Hemisphere.' The strategy prioritizes defending the U.S. homeland and tells allies in Europe and Asia to 'take primary responsibility for their own defense with critical but more limited U.S. support.' The document was released late Friday evening, a timing often used to minimize media attention.

The 2026 strategy makes no mention of or guarantee to Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own and says it will take by force if necessary. Biden's 2022 National Defense Strategy explicitly said the U.S. would 'support Taiwan's asymmetric self-defense.' The U.S. is legally obligated by the Taiwan Relations Act to provide military support to Taiwan. The omission of Taiwan from the 2026 strategy represents a significant policy shift that could embolden Chinese aggression.

The strategy says South Korea is 'capable of taking primary responsibility for deterring North Korea with critical but more limited U.S. support.' It describes Russia as a 'persistent but manageable threat to NATO's eastern members for the foreseeable future,' a softer characterization than Biden's 2022 strategy which called Russia an 'acute threat.' The document says European NATO allies are 'strongly positioned to take primary responsibility for Europe's conventional defense.'

The strategy specifically points to U.S. interests in the Panama Canal and Greenland. It says the U.S. will 'actively and fearlessly defend America's interests throughout the Western Hemisphere.' The document comes days after Trump said he reached a 'framework of a future deal' on Arctic security with NATO leader Mark Rutte that would offer the U.S. 'total access' to Greenland, a territory of NATO ally Denmark. Danish officials say formal negotiations haven't begun.

The document calls for a 'sharp shift — in approach, focus, and tone' and was described as 'highly political for a military blueprint.' The opening sentence reads: 'For too long, the U.S. Government neglected — even rejected — putting Americans and their concrete interests first.' It criticizes previous administrations for 'grandiose nation-building projects and self-congratulatory pledges to uphold cloud-castle abstractions like the rules-based international order.'

The strategy says the Pentagon's goal regarding China 'is not to dominate China; nor is it to strangle or humiliate them.' It adds, 'This does not require regime change or some other existential struggle.' The document says 'President Trump seeks a stable peace, fair trade, and respectful relations with China' and promises to 'open a wider range of military-to-military communications' with China's army. This softer tone contrasts with Biden's 2022 strategy which identified China as the 'most consequential strategic competitor.'

The 2026 strategy calls for NATO allies to spend 5% of GDP on defense (with 3.5% on hard military capabilities), up from the previous 2% target. The document says 'European NATO dwarfs Russia in economic scale, population, and, thus, latent military power' and notes that 'Germany's economy alone dwarfs that of Russia.' It argues that since European allies are more powerful than Russia, they should handle their own conventional defense while the U.S. focuses on the Western Hemisphere.

The 2026 strategy makes no mention of climate change, which Biden's 2022 strategy had identified as an 'emerging threat.' The document emphasizes border security, saying 'Border security is national security' and that the Pentagon 'will therefore prioritize efforts to seal our borders, repel forms of invasion, and deport illegal aliens.' The strategy touted the operation that ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier in Jan., saying 'all narco-terrorists should take note.'