Qiushi 《求是》 2026/02 Author: Ni Feng 倪 峰, Research Fellow, Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences 中国社会科学院美国研究所研究员

https://www.qstheory.cn/20260115/280cd92f6b144232a8eadf33af712ad9/c.html

Since World War II, the national security strategy of the United States has been dominated by so-called "liberal internationalism." Its basic objective has been to realize global leadership by establishing an international order based on so-called liberal principles, thereby maintaining and enhancing its national security, economic prosperity, and the global influence of its values. In recent years, as the "great changes unseen in a century" accelerate across the world, this U.S. strategy has appeared increasingly strained, and its hegemony has shown a trend of growing decline. To change this situation, the current U.S. administration is concentrating its strategic resources—previously distributed expansively across the globe—shrinking them back to the core zones essential for the survival of its hegemony. It is also implementing a more precise, pragmatic, and enduring "targeted containment" against what it identifies as its primary strategic competitor. On December 4, 2025, the current U.S. administration released a new National Security Strategy report (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"), systematically reconstructing its global strategy. The content revealed is highly consistent with its recent diplomatic actions. An in-depth analysis of the changes and continuities in the Report can help us more intuitively and accurately understand and grasp the external shifts and internal logic of U.S. national security strategy.

二战以来，美国国家安全战略一直由所谓的“自由国际主义”主导，基本目标是通过建立一套基于所谓自由主义原则的国际秩序，实现对世界的领导，并以此维护和增进其国家安全、经济繁荣及价值观的全球影响力。近年来，美国这套战略随着世界百年未有之大变局的加速演进显得左支右绌，其霸权呈现日益衰弱的趋势。为改变这一状况，现任美国政府将战略资源从全球范围内的扩张性分布，集中收缩至关乎其霸权存亡根基的核心地带，并对其认定的首要战略竞争对手实施更为精准、务实且持久的“定向遏制”。2025年12月4日，现任美国政府发布新版国家安全战略报告（以下简称“报告”），对其全球战略进行系统性重构，所展示的内容与其在外交上的所作所为高度吻合。深入分析报告的变与不变，能够帮助我们更加直观、准确地理解把握美国国家安全战略的外在变化和内在逻辑。

Where lie the changes?

变在何处

The current U.S. administration believes that in the past, America's global strategy invested too many resources and too much energy in the outside world while neglecting its own development and construction, which is a significant reason for the U.S. turning from prosperity to decline. The Report claims that the United States "pursued an objective that was fundamentally undesirable and impossible to achieve, which resulted in the hollowing out of the American middle class and industrial base," leaving the current United States without the capacity to "dominate the whole world forever." Henceforth, the U.S. national security strategy aims to protect prioritized "core national interests" rather than attending to every aspect.

现任美国政府认为，过去美国的全球战略将太多资源和精力投入外部世界，忽视自身发展和建设，这是美国由盛转衰的重要原因。报告宣称，美国“追求了一个从根本上不可取、也不可能实现的目标，结果掏空了美国中产阶级和工业基础”，使得现在的美国没有能力“永远主导全世界”。今后，美国国家安全战略旨在保护经过优先级排序的有限“核心国家利益”，而非面面俱到。

The strategic guiding ideology highlights "America First." "America First" is a concept centered on extreme nationalism and realistic utilitarianism, emphasizing the supremacy of American interests. The new Report emphasizes "America First," adjusting the perception of U.S. power and the setting of strategic goals. It prioritizes addressing America's own issues—such as industrial hollowing out, immigration problems, and drug abuse—as well as enhancing peripheral security. This reflects the current administration's security outlook, which carries strong nationalist and even populist overtones, catering to the propositions of the "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) faction: that more energy and resources should be focused within the U.S. to prioritize solving domestic problems. Declarations such as "border security is the primary element of national security" and "the era of mass migration must end" define social control, along with economic independence, industrial health, and cultural identity, as the foundations of national strength. "Re-industrialization," "energy dominance," and "financial dominance" are no longer just economic goals but "national security foundations" to ensure military advantage and political independence, reflecting the U.S. intention to concentrate resources on building a national security architecture with an extremely strong inward-looking character.

战略指导思想突出强调“美国优先”。“美国优先”是一套以极端民族主义和现实功利主义为核心，强调美国利益至上的理念。新版报告强调“美国优先”，对美国实力的认识和战略目标设定进行调整，把解决美国自身面临的产业空心化、移民问题、毒品泛滥等以及提升周边安全视为优先关切，体现出现任美国政府带有强烈民族主义甚至民粹主义色彩的安全观，迎合了“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA）派的主张，即应当将更多精力和资源放在美国国内，集中力量优先解决美国国内问题。“边境安全是国家安全首要要素”、“大规模移民时代必须终结”等宣示，将社会控制与经济独立、产业健康、文化认同共同定义为国家实力的根基。“再工业化”、“能源主导”和“金融主导”不再只是经济目标，而是确保其军事优势和政治独立的“国家安全基础”，体现出美国将集中资源构建一个内顾色彩极其强烈的国家安全架构。

The strategic layout is retracting to focus on building a "Western Hemisphere Fortress." If highlighting "America First" is the basic support for building U.S. strategic advantages, then creating a Western Hemisphere that is "privately owned" and "exclusively enjoyed" by the United States is a key link in building those advantages. The narrative of America's rise cannot bypass the "Monroe Doctrine"; America's path to world hegemony cannot be separated from a century of "sucking the blood" of Latin America. However, as the U.S. continuously pursued and maintained world hegemony, its strategic center of gravity shifted to Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. Latin America, as America's strategic "backyard," though important, was neglected for a long time. This Report elevates Latin America to a "priority" of national security, declaring that "after years of neglect, the United States will reaffirm and implement the 'Monroe Doctrine' and reshape its dominance in the Western Hemisphere," demonstrating an intention to replicate its history of rising to power. The Report proposes a so-called "Trump Corollary" to the "Monroe Doctrine," with a clear objective: to use all means, including "lethal force," to "prevent 'foreign hostile forces' from controlling key assets in the Western Hemisphere." Recently, a series of U.S. words and deeds attempting to control and annex Greenland have fully verified this point. Unlike its expansion in the Western Hemisphere, in other regions, the focus is mainly on issues of greatest concern to the current U.S. administration: in Asia, emphasizing equal importance on economic competition and security deterrence; regarding Europe, while acknowledging its importance, highlighting internal European crises and limiting U.S. interests to promoting ceasefires and stability; in the Middle East and Africa, downplaying ideological agendas like democracy promotion and shifting to emphasize cooperation centered on realistic interests such as trade. The ultimate goal of this adjustment is to concentrate strategic resources on guarding the "Western Hemisphere Fortress" and winning a "protracted war of attrition" in great power games. It should be emphasized that reality does not entirely align with the Report; for example, recent U.S. threats to intervene again in the current situation in Iran show that strategic contraction does not mean abandoning intervention and control over countries rich in oil and mineral resources like Iran.

战略布局收缩聚焦打造“西半球堡垒”。如果说突出“美国优先”是构建美国战略优势的基本支撑，那么打造美国“私有”与“独享”的西半球就是构建战略优势的关键一环。美国崛起的叙事，绕不开“门罗主义”；美国通往世界霸权之路，离不开对拉丁美洲的百年“吸血”。然而，随着美国不断追求和维护世界霸权，其战略重心转移至欧洲、亚太、中东，拉丁美洲作为美国的战略“后院”，虽然重要但长期被忽视。这次报告将拉丁美洲提升至国家安全的“优先事项”，宣称“经多年忽视，美国将重申并推行‘门罗主义’，重塑西半球主导地位”，展示出复刻崛起历史的意图。报告提出所谓“门罗主义”的“特朗普推论”，其目标明确为：动用包括“致命武力”在内的一切手段，“阻止‘外国敌对势力’控制西半球关键资产”。近来，美国一系列企图控制和吞并格陵兰岛的言行也充分验证了这一点。与在西半球的扩张不同，在其他地区主要聚焦现任美国政府最关注的问题：在亚洲强调经济竞争与安全威慑并重；对欧洲在承认其重要性的同时，突出欧洲内部危机并将美国利益限定于推动停火与稳定；在中东、非洲等地淡化民主推广等意识形态议程，转向强调经贸等侧重现实利益的合作。这种调整的终极目的，是将战略资源集中于固守“西半球堡垒”和赢得大国博弈的“持久消耗战”。应该强调的是，现实与报告也不完全一致，比如，美国近来再次威胁干涉伊朗当前局势，显示出美国战略收缩并不意味着放弃对伊朗等石油矿产资源富集国家的干预与控制。

Strategic measures emphasize opening up new sources of revenue while cutting costs and sharing responsibilities. The current U.S. administration has set new strategic goals: based on domestic revitalization and control of the Western Hemisphere, supported by economic, technological, and military advantages, it aims to concentrate resources by shirking and transferring international responsibilities and reshaping alliance relationships, thereby maintaining a more pragmatic and lower-cost model of hegemony. To maintain this new hegemonic model, the Report proposes implementation paths: First, restoring its own prosperity. Promoting "economic nationalism" with protectionist characteristics, and under the name of "rebalancing global trade relations," using tools like tariffs and industrial subsidies to drive the reshoring of manufacturing, reversing trends unfavorable to U.S. hegemony such as industrial hollowing out and expanding trade deficits. Second, reducing its own burden. The current U.S. administration views the "public goods" of existing global governance as burdens to be rejected and avoided, believing that "the actions of transnational institutions damage political freedom and sovereignty" and that existing international mechanisms are costly and unfair. To this end, Trump announced his withdrawal from the World Health Organization and the Paris Agreement on the day he took office, followed by withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council, cutting off funding to UNRWA, and announcing withdrawal from UNESCO. In particular, the imposition of reciprocal tariffs on almost all trade partners has severely damaged the multilateral free trade system it once led and established. In January 2026, Trump signed a presidential memorandum instructing the U.S. to withdraw from 66 international organizations that "no longer serve U.S. interests." Media have pointed out that "as long as international organizations and multilateral mechanisms cannot fully satisfy its hegemonic demands, or even restrict its unilateral actions, the United States will not hesitate to 'quit the group'." Third, transferring the costs of hegemony. In the view of the current U.S. administration, the alliance system built globally not only fails to support U.S. global hegemony but has become an unbearable burden. Therefore, the administration demands that allies significantly increase defense budgets—for example, demanding NATO members raise defense spending to 5% of GDP—and forcing allies like NATO members, Japan, and South Korea to provide huge investments to feed back into the U.S. Fourth, no longer emphasizing so-called "democracy promotion." At the beginning of its term, the current administration slashed the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a key institution for selling so-called "American-style" values and engaging in "color revolutions" around the world. The Report argues that the U.S. should focus more on establishing good commercial relations with countries worldwide, rather than wasting time and money on so-called "democracy or other social changes."

战略举措强调开源节流、分摊责任。现任美国政府把新的战略目标设定为：以国内振兴和控制西半球为根基，以经济、科技与军事优势为支柱，通过推卸、转嫁国际责任和重塑联盟关系来集中资源，维持一种更加务实、更低运行成本的霸权模式。为维持这种新的霸权模式，报告提出实现路径：其一，恢复自身繁荣。推行具有保护主义色彩的“经济民族主义”，以“重新平衡全球贸易关系”为名，借助关税工具、产业补贴等措施推动制造业回流，扭转产业空心化、贸易逆差扩大等对美国霸权不利的趋势。其二，减轻自身负担。现任美国政府视现有全球治理的“公共产品”为需要拒绝和避免的负担，认为“跨国机构的行为损害政治自由和主权”，现有国际机制成本高昂且不公平。为此，特朗普上任当天即宣布退出世界卫生组织和《巴黎协定》，随后退出联合国人权理事会、切断对联合国近东救济工程处的资助，并宣布退出联合国教科文组织。尤其是对几乎所有贸易伙伴推出对等关税，严重破坏了曾由其主导建立的多边自由贸易体系。2026年1月，特朗普签署总统备忘录，指示美国退出66个“不再符合美国利益”的国际组织。有媒体指出，“只要国际组织和多边机制无法完全满足其霸权诉求，甚至对其单边行径形成制约，美国便会毫不犹豫地‘退群’”。其三，转嫁霸权成本。在现任美国政府看来，其在全球范围构建的联盟体系非但不能支撑美国的全球霸权，反而成为不堪重负的累赘。为此，现任美国政府要求盟友大幅提高防卫预算，比如，要求北约成员国将国防开支提升至国内生产总值的‌5%‌，并迫使北约成员国和日本、韩国等盟友拿出巨额投资反哺美国。其四，不再强调所谓“民主推广”。现任美国政府成立之初，就砍掉其在世界各地推销所谓“美式”价值观、大搞“颜色革命”的重要机构——美国国际开发署。报告认为，美国应更注重与世界各国建立良好的商业关系，而不是把时间、金钱浪费在所谓的“民主或其他社会变革”上。

What remains unchanged?

不变的是什么

The release of the new U.S. National Security Strategy report marks a significant shift in U.S. strategy; however, its essence of maintaining hegemony remains unchanged. This is the basic logic running throughout the Report.

美国新版国家安全战略报告的发布，标志着美国国家安全战略的一次显著转向，然而其维护霸权的本质没有改变，这是贯穿报告始终的基本逻辑。

The core goal of maintaining U.S. global hegemony has not changed. Although the phrasing of "dominating the world" has changed, and the Report emphasizes "protecting core national interests" more, this is actually a more calculated "cost optimization" and "goal screening" for maintaining hegemony against the backdrop of relative power decline. The deep underlying thread is still the sustained maintenance of U.S. hegemony. Specifically: Overall, it aims to build U.S. national power advantages so that "no adversary or danger can pose a threat to the United States." Militarily, it focuses on maintaining an exclusive absolute advantage, ensuring the U.S. always has the ability to "protect the American people, overseas assets, and allies," seeking "absolute nuclear superiority," significantly increasing the defense budget, and consolidating the cornerstone of hegemony—military deterrence. Economically, it aims to "build the world's strongest, most dynamic, most innovative, and most advanced economy," making the cultivation of U.S. industrial strength the "highest priority of national economic policy," ensuring possession of a "strong industrial sector that meets the production needs of peacetime and wartime," making it the "foundation of global status and necessary support for military power." Technologically, it aims to "continue to remain the world's most scientifically and technologically advanced and innovative nation," serving as a "key pillar for maintaining economic dominance and military advantage." It can be seen that the "changes" in the Report are adjustments in methods and priorities, while what remains "unchanged" is the ultimate ambition to maintain the United States' unipolar superpower status.

维护美国全球霸权的核心目标没有变。尽管“主导世界”的表述在变，报告更强调“维护核心国家利益”，这实为实力相对下降背景下，美国对霸权维持方式进行的更为精打细算的“成本优化”和“目标筛选”，深层主线仍是持续维护美国霸权。具体表现为：在总体上，打造美国的国力优势，使“任何对手或危险都不应能对美国构成威胁”。在军事上，着力保持排他性的绝对优势，确保美国始终具有“保护美国民众、海外资产及盟友”的能力，寻求“绝对核优势”，大幅提高国防预算，夯实军事威慑这一霸权基石。在经济上，“打造世界上最强大、最具活力、最具创新性和最先进的经济体”，将培育美国工业实力作为“国家经济政策的最高优先事项”，确保拥有“满足和平时期与战争时期生产需求的强大工业部门”，使之成为“全球地位的基础和军事力量的必要支撑”。在科技上，“继续保持世界上科技最先进、最具创新力的国家地位”，以此作为“保持经济主导地位和军事优势的关键支柱”。可以看出，报告的“变”，是方法与优先级的调整，“不变”的是维持美国单一超强优势地位的终极野心。