Singapore
CNN
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On Saturday, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses issued a disastrous warning to the Asia-Pacific region and the world. Taiwan’s Chinese design poses a threat to global peace and stability that demands “our allies and partners engage in defense.”
“There’s no reason to sugarcoat it. The threat poses by China is realistic, and it could be imminent,” Hegus said in a speech to Shangri-La’s dialogue, Asia’s premier defense forum in Singapore.
“Beijing is potentially preparing to use military forces to change the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific,” the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forced them to train daily to take military action against Taiwan.
He said that the Chinese leader Xi Jinping people had ordered the troops by 2027 to invade Taiwan, the 23 million Democratic island they claim as its sovereign territory, despite the fact that the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled it.
“The PLA builds the military that is needed to do it, trains it every day, and rehearsals for actual deals,” Hegses has delivered some of his strongest comments on China since taking office in January.
He said President Donald Trump had pledged to not defeat Taiwan on China with his watch, and he called on his regional allies and partners to unite to face Beijing on both the issues of Taiwan and other regional conflicts where China actively pursues agendas, such as the South China Sea.
“China’s actions towards their neighbors and the world are a call for awakening, and an urgent call,” the US Secretary of Defense said.
However, he said the US cannot stop China’s threat alone and cannot call other countries as a “power multiplier” against Beijing.
“We ask that our allies and partners play their role in the defense.
Hegseth refers to NATO’s allies that urged Asian countries to increase their defence spending and boosted it to 5% of gross domestic product.
“So it’s pointless for European countries to do that, but not all important Asian allies have spent defending themselves in the face of even more frightening threats, let alone North Korea,” he said.
Hegseth revealed that Washington is not seeking a conflict with China, but he emphasized that the Trump administration would not allow an attack from Beijing.
“We will not be kicked out of this important region. We cannot subjugate and intimidate our allies,” he said.
Hegseth’s speech is growing intense tension between Washington and Beijing.
China has been opposed to US efforts to strengthen its alliance and strengthen its defensive stance in Asia in recent years, but economic friction rose to historic levels earlier this year after Trump imposed tariffs on China, sparking TIT between two countries that rose more than 100% in each other’s goods.
The annual Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore has been a place in the past where US and Chinese defense leaders could meet onsighters to promote minimal dialogue between at least two enemies.
There are no plans to hold such a meeting this year. China announced Thursday that it would only send a low-level delegation from the National Defense University to Shangri-La, rather than the Minister of Defense who spoke in the past five forums.
When the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which sponsored the event, belatedly released its forum speaker list on Friday afternoon, a regular 8:30am slot for Chinese representatives to speak was washed from the agenda.
At a press conference for China’s Ministry of Defense on Thursday, a spokesman raised questions as to why Beijing did not send the defense minister to the forum.
China was “open to communication at all levels on both sides,” a provincial spokesperson said when asked about potential bystanders with the US delegation to meet.
Hegses’s call for alliance cooperation in China’s deterrence is carried over from the Biden administration, but the Trump administration appears to be more intense than its predecessor.
Prior to the Singapore conference, there was a wide consensus among analysts, unlike the turmoil that Trump caused in Europe, unlike the threat of abandoning Ukraine in the fight against Russian invasion.
Analysts said US-led military exercises, particularly those involving major allies, Australia, the Philippines and South Korea, were continued or strengthened in 2025.
