The US National Defense Strategy published on January 23, 2026 (the 2026 NDS), demonstrates noticeable differences in how key national security challenges are defined compared to the document released just two months earlier. These discrepancies deserve close attention.

No Taiwan Issue in the 2026 National Defense Strategy

At the same time, the 2026 NDS makes references to the 2025 NSS, in particular in terms of Washington’s intention to “build a credible defense of the First Island Chain.” It should be recalled that Taiwan is its central link. The US policy toward Taiwan, as it has already been noted above, occupies a prominent place in the 2025 NSS, confirming the continuity of approaches that took shape as far back as the early 1980s. The principal and currently relevant practical consequence of these approaches is the ambiguity that Beijing would face if it attempted to resolve the Taiwan issue “by force.” Washington reserves the option, but not the obligation, of military intervention in such a case.

Containing China and “Trump-centrism”

Although the 2026 NDS spells out the intention to “deter China by force in the Indo-Pacific region,” it immediately speaks of a desire to avoid “confrontation” with it. The Strategy further points to “President Trump’s pursuit of a stable peace, fair trade, and respectful relations with China,” as well as to a “willingness to engage directly with President Xi Jinping to achieve these goals.” However, the very fact of such “direct engagement” with the Chinese leader, supposedly scheduled for this April, is unlikely to materialize if the American counterpart were to reaffirm in writing the aforementioned half-century-old “ambiguity” on a foreign policy issue crucial for Beijing.

What primarily indicates that both documents were prepared by the same ruling US administration is their........

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