Washington wants 'stable, respectful' relationship with Beijing: Senior US defense official

ISTANBUL

Washington wants a "stable and respectful" relationship with Beijing, a senior US defense official said Saturday at the Munich Security Conference.

Elbridge Colby, US under secretary of defense for policy, said that while Washington seeks to avoid conflict, it also wants to engage in mutually beneficial commerce. “But we obviously recognize … that we need to do that from a position of strength,” he said.

He also said that Washington “understands and respects” Beijing's accomplishments and military buildup, towards which the US is “acting accordingly.”

“We are looking at it clear in a clear-eyed way” with the goal of achieving a favorable balance of power and stability, he said.

On the 2026 US National Security Strategy not mentioning Taiwan, he said US President Donald Trump “is actually quite consistent with our traditional position one-China policy position.”

“We are seeking stability, a willingness to engage, but also clarity and strength and we're all about building up a position of strength” in the Pacific, he said.

The US needs to work with allies, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, to “build up a position of collective strength,” Colby added.

On a new phase for NATO, he said Washington is now pushing “NATO 3.0.”

It involves “a couple of things,” including “flexible realism ... a refocusing on, in a sense, going back to … NATO as a military alliance,” he said.

Refocusing the military is critical for the “homeland hemisphere,” he said. “Obviously, a lot of that is not the military domain, but it is a critical part of that supply chain and stability there – deterring China through strength, not confrontation.”

Colby also said modern conflicts would be “wars of production,” stressing the importance of manufacturing capacity.

“We need to have a defense industry that can produce for ourselves and for our allies," Colby said, also extending support for US allies growing their defense industrial base.