US Army boss: Russia, China two global heavyweights
May 15, 2014, 9:50 am

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey listens on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 5, 2014, while testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing focusing on the Defense Department’s budget request for fiscal year 2015 [AP]

Russia and China are today’s two global heavyweights, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told the Atlantic Council in a keynote speech.

“The world in which we live, and the security which we seek, and the actions which we conduct, are always conducted strategically within the context of what effect it will have on the two heavyweights, that is Russia and China,” Gen. Dempsey said.

He added that today’s conflicts demand an evolution of the military to a new security paradigm, that he described using the mnemonic “2, 2, 2, and 1”.

“Two heavyweights, Russia and China; two middleweights, Iran and North Korea; two networks, Al-Qaeda and the transnational organized crime network; and one system, cyber security,” he elaborated, adding that each actor, whether an adversary or potential adversary requires a different approach, as each will “respond very differently to different kinds of pressures.”

“You deter nation states. You use the instruments of power — all of them, diplomatic, economic, and military — differently, whether you’re dealing with a nation state, whether you’re dealing with a middleweight power who aspires to have more influence than it warrants, who can go rogue from time to time. And certainly networks are not responsive to the kind of pressure that nation states are,” he concluded.

General Dempsey met with his Chinese counterpart after addressing the council and will be in Brussels next week to hold extensive meetings with other NATO members.

Russian officials are realigning a shift to energy-hungry Asian markets such as China and India as the current standoff between Russia and the EU over tensions in Ukraine continue.

Preparations are underway for the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Shanghai next week to cement economic ties with China, including on energy.

During the visit, the Russian and Chinese leaders are expected to discuss long-term gas supplies and boosting trade in oil, including Moscow’s long-awaited deal on exporting up to 60 billion cubic meters of gas per year via the eastern route to China.

TBP and Agencies