Paris, Nov. 10 (CNA) A defense strategy report published by the French government has highlighted the security risks posed by Russia and China, while noting the latter's increasingly "assertive" efforts to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.
The 2022 National Strategic Review, which is meant to describe how France's defense will look like in 2030, was released on Wednesday by the Secretariat-General for National Defense and Security (SGDSN).
In a section titled "Crystalization of the Main Antagonisms," the report states that Russia is "pursuing a strategy that seeks to undermine European security," most openly and recently with its invasion of Ukraine, but also more indirectly in the years leading up to the conflict.
Regarding China, the report leads with the assertion that the goal of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is to "supplant the United States as the world's leading superpower."
Underpinning this goal is the belief that American power and the Western model of governance are in decline, the report said.
As a result, China is aiming to utilize its "new influence" to further weaken Western leadership of the international order, the report added.
"The CCP is therefore banking on the passivity of a majority of non-Western countries over the war in Ukraine to fuel a discourse that portrays an opposition based on 'the West against the rest,'" it said.
At the same time, the report continues, the modernization of China's military has allowed it to pursue a more "assertive" strategy in the Indo-Pacific, certain African states and "particularly with regard to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait."
It goes on to express concern about the growing "strategic convergence" between China and Russia while noting that the Ukraine crisis will tilt the current imbalance in relations sharply in Beijing's favor.
According to the report, this could have potentially "enormous" implications for global governance.
Moreover, Beijing is likely to be examining Western cohesion and the impact of sanctions against Russia for insight into methods that could be used against it in the event of a "major crisis," the report said, apparently referencing possible military action against Taiwan.
According to the French newspaper Le Monde, the new National Strategic Review was urgently drafted to examine the strategic implications and lessons learned from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The document will set a baseline for debate on France's 2024-2030 national defense budget, which will come before the French parliament early next year, the paper reported.
On Thursday, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the report's reference to peace and security in the Taiwan Strait demonstrated the French government's resolute support for Taiwan, while also highlighting the broad consensus around the issue within the international community.
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