US Studies Centre CEO Simon Jackman says “intense policy debates” are ongoing between defence officials to determine how the superpower financially supports its ambition to “meet and match” China.

Billions have been set aside by President Joe Biden to modernise its nuclear arsenal to deter China as part of the administration’s $715 billion pledge towards defence spending.

“One thing, despite a lot of talk from the US administration about the priority of China in US defence planning and US foreign policy; are the dollars coming in to back it in?” Mr Jackman said.

“There’s a bit of argy-bargy between bipartisan groups on Capitol Hill that are determined that a dedicated stab of money be sent to service that part of the US mission.

“Then a little bit of intense policy debate that isn’t really percolating in the public domain about how exactly does the US give voice to its stated ambition to meet and match China.

“You’ve got the problem of a very expensive way of delivering American military presence, through it conventional battleship grey legacy systems plus the need to stand up the next generation of technology to out-innovate and out-develop China and all of that is incredibly expensive and where do all the dollars go to deliver most bang for your buck.”

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