"To confront China and Russia" Biden launches the first national security strategy of his era

Biden confirmed a major shift in global politics, saying that the system that had lasted for three decades after the end of the Cold War was "completely finished."

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday released his first "national security" strategy focused on rebuilding global partnerships and "confronting China and Russia."

The first national security strategy under Biden was to be launched in the months leading up to Russia's war against Ukraine.

Biden acknowledged a major shift in global politics, saying that the three-decade-old order after the end of the Cold War was "completely finished".

He stressed that a new period of "competition is underway between the major powers to shape what comes next."

"Across the world, the need for American leadership is as great as ever," Biden wrote in the preface to the 48-page National Security Strategy document. "We are in the midst of a strategic competition to shape the future of the international order."

Biden has retained the interim national security directive he issued in March 2021, while his first official strategy continues to affirm China as the United States' "single global competitor," while "emphasizing" the need to focus on Russia.

He also touched on Russia's nearly eight-month war against Ukraine, saying that it "broke peace in Europe and affected stability everywhere."

"The reckless nuclear threats of Russian President Vladimir Putin endanger the global non-proliferation regime," he warned.

In a clear reference to "Russia and China," the US president said that "authoritarians are making additional efforts to undermine democracy and export a model of governance characterized by repression at home and coercion abroad."

He added that "those competitors mistakenly believe that democracy is weaker than tyranny because they do not understand that the strength of a nation stems from its people."

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine, which was followed by angry international reactions and the imposition of severe economic and financial sanctions on Moscow.