Pentagon appointments suggest Trump’s scepticism about Ukraine and its impact on Taiwan

While the Pentagon awaits Senate confirmation of its new chief amid fresh allegations of the nominee’s history of abuse, US President Donald Trump has made other appointments that offer clues about how the Defence Department will move ahead on China and the Ukraine war.

Some of the highest-ranking Pentagon appointees responsible for the Indo-Pacific are deeply sceptical of the need to aid Kyiv and reject the notion, often raised by Ukraine supporters, that the besieged country’s defence is critical to deter any aggression Beijing might consider against Taiwan.

Among the postings the Pentagon announced this week are Marine Corps veteran Austin Dahmer as deputy assistant secretary of defence for strategy; and John Noh, a former adviser to the House select committee on China, as assistant secretary of defence for East Asia.

Alexander Velez-Green, a former senior policy adviser at the conservative Heritage Foundation, was also named senior adviser to Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defence for policy and the department’s No 3 for national security and defence policy.

Both Dahmer and Velez-Green are considered protégés of Colby, who served in Trump’s first term and helped draft the National Defence Strategy that identified China as the primary threat to US global power.

Noh will be advising senior Pentagon officials on defence strategies and security relations for East Asia, a region where the US and China are vying for military supremacy.