China’s Ministry of Foreign Defense issued an angry statement after Pete Hegsels called the People’s Republic a “threat” at a security conference in Singapore.
Hegus urges Asia to increase defense spending cited China’s threat
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses warned that the threat from China was realistic and potentially imminent as they pushed Indo-Pacific allies to spend more on their own defensive needs.
- China calls Pete Hegses’s statement “deplorable.”
- Hegus urged Asian allies to strengthen their defensive spending.
- China warned against “interference” between the South China Sea and Taiwan.
BEIJING – China has protested the US over Defense Secretary Pete Hegses’ “demonstrations,” and the Foreign Office accused Washington of intentionally ignoring local calls for peace.
China opposed Hegus, who called it a threat to the Indo-Pacific region, the ministry added, describing his comments at Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue on May 31 as “deplorable.”
“Hegses intentionally ignored calls for peace and development by the regional countries, instead promoting the idea of the Cold War for the Bloc’s conflict, and mistakenly referred to China as a “threat” with defamatory allegations,” the ministry said on its website.
“The US is deploying offensive weapons in the South China Sea, creating flames and creating tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, turning the region into powder barrels,” the statement added.
China’s Ministry of Defense measured the weights, stating that the US is “used to the forum “blowing conflict, sowing discord and seeking selfish interests.”
“Chinese military will work with other countries in the region to oppose hegemonism that harms the Asia-Pacific region,” provincial spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said in a statement posted on the province’s WeChat account.
Hegseth had urged Indo-Pacific allies, including its major security partner Australia, to spend more on defense after warning of a “realistic and potentially imminent” threat from China.
When asked about a call to boost defense spending, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government has pledged an additional $10 billion (US$6 billion) for Australian dollars (US$6 billion).
“What we do is decide on defense policies,” he told reporters on Sunday.
As part of Washington’s long-standing defense with the Philippines, the US military deployed a typesion launcher this year that could launch missiles from Luzon to attack targets in both China and Russia.
China and the Philippines are fighting for sovereignty over several islands and atolls in the South China Sea, with sea running increasing among coastal invaders as both compete to patrol the ocean.
The Chinese delegation at the forum said “outside intervention” was the biggest risk to stability in the South China Sea, and showed “good intentions and restraints” through consultations on the issue.
“Some foreign powers have sent fighter jets and warships to the South China Sea for so-called “freedom of voyage,”” the state-backed Global Times quoted Colonel Zhang Chi of PLA National Defense University.
Such actions violated China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, he added.
The US, Australia, Japan and the Philippines are carrying out joint maritime operations in busy waterways.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including some of the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
In 2016, the International Court of Arbitration held that Beijing’s vast claims were unfounded in international law.
China’s Foreign Ministry also told the US to “set a fire and not play” about Taiwan’s issues.
China’s attempts to conquer Taiwan will have “devastating consequences,” Hegses said in a speech to Asia’s finest forum for defense leaders, military officials and diplomats.
China vowed to “reunify” with the islands, which were forced to be ruled separately, if necessary. Taiwan’s government rejects claims of sovereignty in Beijing, saying that only the people of the island can decide their future.
