With the leaders of Russia, Iran, and North Korea watching, Beijing conducted a massive parade on Wednesday, demonstrating the results of a years-long effort by the Chinese Communist Party to build a military it hopes can defeat the United States in the Pacific.

Beijing’s growing prowess has eroded American security and increased the likelihood of war in the Taiwan Strait, but it is not too late for Americans to respond.

The top U.S. military officer in the Pacific testified more than two years ago that the People’s Liberation Army “continues the largest, fastest, most comprehensive military buildup since World War II in both the conventional and strategic nuclear domains.”

Unfortunately, the PLA’s capabilities have only improved since then, as the parade and recent assessments by the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence community demonstrate.  

Many of the weapons on display in the parade are tailor made for targeting U.S. military forces and possibly deterring a decision by Washington to help Taiwan in a crisis.

That includes several hypersonic YJ-series anti-ship missiles, whose speed and maneuverability pose serious threats to U.S. naval vessels by making interception more challenging.

The PLA also displayed several intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of targeting the U.S. homeland. This included the DF-61’s apparent public debut at the parade, which underscored China’s progress in expanding its nuclear arsenal.

To make matters worse, “China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are pursuing unprecedented levels of cooperation,” as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine testified in June. That includes broad and deep cooperation among these authoritarian adversaries in the cyber, economic, information warfare, and military domains that is making each adversary more capable in their ongoing or prospective sphere of aggression.

So how should Americans respond?

As a first step, Americans should recognize that our adversaries are waging an information war against us. China and Russia, in particular, seek to divide and distract Americans as much as possible, hoping that we are so dysfunctional at home that we are either unable or unwilling to defend our vital interests abroad.

Americans should recognize this fact, unite as much as possible, and begin to go on the offensive in the information domain.

Second, leaders in Washington must ensure we are devoting sufficient resources to defense. America’s military advantages have eroded primarily because we have spent near post-World War II lows on defense as a percentage of GDP.

Devoting sufficient resources to defense will help procure the maximum quantities of key weapons systems and munitions that industry can produce; build additional defense production capacity as quickly as possible; and prioritize the delivery of decisive combat capabilities to American forces as quickly as possible.

Finally, at a time when our adversaries appreciate the value of partners, Americans should not take our unmatched network of allies and partners for granted. The United States is powerful, but given the threats we confront, we need friends more than ever.

That includes our NATO allies, our allies in the Pacific, and partners such as Taiwan, Ukraine and Israel.

But we should also manage relations carefully with countries such as India.

India is a major power and important partner for the United States. A prosperous and powerful India can advance American interests and help prevent Chinese hegemony in the Indo-Pacific. India can create additional dilemmas for Beijing which can help make it think twice about aggression.

To this end, the U.S. and India have significantly increased security cooperation in recent years. That includes a significant increase in India’s purchases of American weapons, as well as regular combined military exercises in both countries. India also is a member of the Quad diplomatic and security partnership, which includes the United States, Japan, and Australia.

Unfortunately, New Delhi’s behavior since Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 large-scale re-invasion of Ukraine has been very disappointing. India’s purchases of discounted Russian oil have surged since then. While India imported less than 1% of its oil from Russia before the invasion, that number reportedly skyrocketed to 45% by May of 2023. Now India is one of the leading customers of Russian oil, providing Putin valuable revenue to support his brutal war of aggression.

President Donald Trump is right to try to end India’s purchase of Russian oil, but his administration should pursue this policy in a way that does not destroy important progress in Washington’s relationship with New Delhi and deprive the United States of a necessary partner in the effort to counter Beijing.

Americans are right to be concerned about what they saw in the parade in Beijing. But if we take the necessary steps, we can continue to deter aggression in the Pacific and protect America’s vital interests.

Bradley Bowman serves as senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.