The Pentagon’s coming defence strategy report will contain major changes in the US’ plans to counter China’s military and economic strength, according to Chinese defence researchers.

According to a Defence Department memo in May, the report will “prioritise defence of the US homeland, including America’s skies and borders, and deterring China in the Indo-Pacific”.

US news outlet Politico reported last month that, in the new document, the US would prioritise homeland security over perceived threatens from China and Russia, citing people who had seen the draft.

However, this does not mean that Washington’s attention is drifting from the Indo-Pacific, according to He Wenxiang, a researcher from Jinan University.

In a report published online last week by the National Institute of Strategic Studies at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, He said that instead of direct confrontation with China along the Indo-Pacific front lines, the US would focus on “a broader, indirect containment strategy through peripheral regions”.