President Xi Jinping addressed the National Security Commission of the Chinese Communist Party in 2023. According to state news agency Xinhua, he said: “The complexity and difficulty of the national security issues we now face have increased significantly. We must adhere to bottom-line thinking and worst-case-scenario thinking and get ready to undergo the major tests of high winds and rough seas and even perilous, stormy seas.”
As much as the Biden administration’s strategy of “integrated deterrence” attempted to dissuade China from its more aggressive behavior in the Indo-Pacific region, the crucial question is, what happens if deterrence fails?
In this respect, the strategy proves limited in its ability to address this and related questions if a great power war were to start. While having more forward deployed forces in the Indo-Pacific and bolstering those forces would make a war with China somewhat easier, there are several other aspects of great power war that need to be addressed, especially if integrated deterrence were to fail: preparing for great power war; building a resilient homeland for sustained conflict; rolling back China’s global influence; and preparing for a post-Xi China.
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