Shanahan calls China his top priority as he takes over from Mattis

Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan says he will make China his top priority after taking over from General James Mattis, who was recently fired by President Donald Trump.

In a meeting with military service chiefs on Wednesday, Shanahan said he was going to implement the president’s foreign policy, which has been based on countering the growing influence of China and Russia.

"While we are focused on ongoing operations, Acting Secretary Shanahan told the team to remember China, China, China," an unnamed US military official, who attended the closed-door meeting, told American media.

Despite exchanging congratulatory messages with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, on Tuesday, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the China-US diplomatic relations, Trump has spent most of his time in office exploring ways to pressure Beijing.

Under Trump, the Pentagon has also shifted its focus from so-called anti-terror operations in the Middle East to countering China and Russia as the main threats to US national security.

Last year, the Pentagon imposed sanctions on the Chinese military for buying Russian weapons and increased military presence in the Pacific region, challenging China’s sovereignty claims over the South China Sea.

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The policy shift became more clear last month, when Trump said he planned to withdraw all of America’s more than 2,000 troops from Syria because the Daesh terrorist group had already been defeated and there was no reason for the US to extend military presence there.

He also announced that he would lower US troop level in Afghanistan, which currently stands at around 14,000.

The announcement led Mattis to hand in his resignation letter, in which he implied that pulling out of Syria would play well into the hands of “malign actors and strategic competitors.”

Doubling down on his decision, Trump decided to push Mattis out on January 1, two months before his scheduled exit at the end of February.

He boasted in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that he had “essentially” fired the former Pentagon chief.

“As you know, President [Barack] Obama fired him, and essentially so did I,” Trump said, referring to Mattis’ decision to retire a few months earlier than expected in 2013 as commander of the US military’s Central Command over clashes with Obama.

Shanahan said in a statement on his first day at work that there would be no daylight between him and Trump on issues that led to Mattis' resignation.

"Under the direction of President Trump, the Department of Defense remains focused on safeguarding our nation," he said, pledging to carry out Trump’s agenda.

Shanahan, 56, is a former Boeing executive with no history of military service.

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