The Secretary of Defense of the United States, Pete Hegseth, assures the allies that the United States will support them against China’s pressure

The Secretary of Defense of the United States, Pete Hegseth, assured the allies in the Indo-Pacific on Saturday that they will not be left alone to face the growing military and economic pressure of China, while insisting that they also contribute more to their own defense.

He said that Washington will reinforce his defenses abroad to counteract what the Pentagon sees as rapid development of Beijing, particularly in his aggressive position towards Taiwan. China has performed numerous exercises to prove how a blockade of the Autonomous Island would look, which Beijing affirms how own and the United States has committed to defend itself.

China’s army “is rehearsing for the real business,” Hegseth said in an opening speech at a Singapore security conference. “We are not going to sweeten it, the threat that China represents is real. And it could be imminent.”

China’s head of the Delegation accused Hegseth of making “unfounded accusations.”

“Some of the statements are completely manufactured, some distorted facts and some are cases of a thief who cries’ Stop Thief,” said Rear Admiral Hu Gangfeng, vice president of the University of National Defense of China. He did not offer specific objections.

“These actions are nothing more than attempts to cause problems, incite division and cause confrontation to destabilize the Asia and Pacific region,” he said.

Hegseth says that China is training to invade Taiwan

China has a declared objective to ensure that its army is able to take Taiwan by force if necessary for 2027, a deadline that experts consider more an aspirational objective than a hard war period.

China has also built sophisticated and artificial islands in the South China Sea to support new military advanced positions and developed highly advanced hypersonic and spatial capabilities, which are promoting the United States to create their own space based on space. “Golden Dome” missile defenses. President Trump said his administration had “officially selected an architecture for this avant -garde system”, and that a budget package that is currently deliberate by Congress would provide initial financing of $ 25 billion for the project.

Speaking in the Shangri-la dialogue, a global security conference organized by the International Institute for Security Studies, Hegseth said that China is no longer accumulating its military forces to take Taiwan, is “actively training for it, every day.”

Hegseth also called China for his ambitions in Latin America, particularly his efforts to increase his influence on the Panama Canal.

He urged Indo-Pacific countries to increase defense spending to levels similar to 5% of their gross domestic product that European nations are now pressed to contribute.

“We must all do our part,” said Hegseth.

After the speech, the main diplomat of the European Union, Kaja Kallas, delayed Hegseth’s comment that European countries should focus their defense efforts in their own region and leave more the Indo-Pacific to the United States, said that with North Korean troops they fought against Russia and China that supported Moscow, European and Asian security was “very interconnected.”

Questions about the United States commitment to Indo-Pacific

He also repeated a promise made by previous administrations to reinforce the US army in the Indo-Pacific to provide a more robust deterrent element. While both Obama and Biden administrations had also promised to pivot the Pacific and establish new military agreements throughout the region, a complete change has never been made.

On the other hand, the American military resources of the Indo-Pacific have been regularly withdrawn to support military needs in the Middle East and Europe, especially from the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. In the first months of President Donald Trump’s second term, that has also been the case.

In recent months, the Trump Administration has drawn a Patriots antimiles defense battalion of the Indo-Pacific to send it to the Middle East, a mass logistics operation that required 73 flights of military load planes, and sent ships from the coastal guard back to the United States to help defend the border with the United States.

Hegseth was asked why the United States withdrew those resources if the Indo-Pacific is the priority theater. He did not respond directly, but said that the change in resources was necessary to defend himself from Houthi missile attacks launched from Yemen, and to reinforce protections against illegal immigration in the United States.

At the same time, he emphasized the need for American allies and partners to intensify their own defense expenses and preparations, saying that the United States was not interested in going alone.

“Ultimately, a strong network, resolved and capable of allies and partners is our key strategic advantage,” he said. “China envies what we have together, and see what we can collectively lead to Defense, but it depends on all to ensure that we are up to that potential investing.”

The Indo-Pacific nations caught in the middle have tried to balance relations with the United States and China over the years. Beijing is the main commercial partner for many, but it is also feared as a regional thug, partly due to its increasingly aggressive statements of natural resources, such as critical fishing.

Hegesh warned that playing on both sides, seeking American military support and Chinese economic support, entails risks.

“China’s economic dependence only deepens its evil influence and complicates our defense decision space in times of tension,” said Hegseth.

When asked how he would reconcile that statement with the threat of Trump of tariffs pronounced in most of the region, Hegseth was “in the tanks business, not trade.”

But Illinois Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, who is part of a delegation of the Congress that attended Shangri-la, opposed to press regional allies.

“The United States is not asking people who choose between us and the Republic of presence,” said Duckworth, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

Australia Defense Minister Richard Marles welcomed Hegseth’s guarantee that the Indo-Pacific was an American strategic priority and agreed that Australia and other nations needed to do their part.

“The reality is that there is no balance of effective power in this region in the absence of the United States, but we cannot leave it alone to the United States,” he said.

Even so, Marles suggested that the aggressive commercial policies of the Trump administration were counterproductive. “The shock and interruption of high rates have been expensive and destabilizing.”

China sends a lower level delegation

China generally sends its own Minister of Defense to the conference, but Dong Jun did not attend the United States for the United States for Trump’s erratic rates this year. His absence was something that the United States delegation said he intended to capitalize.

“We are here this morning. And someone else is not,” said Hegseth.

Asked by a member of the Chinese delegation how committed it would remain in the United States if Asian alliances such as Asean had differences with Washington, Hegseth said that the United States would not be limited by “the limits of how previous administrations looked at this region.”

“We are opening our arms to countries around the spectrum: traditional allies, non -traditional allies,” he said.

He said that the support of the United States would not require local governments to align with the West on cultural or climatic issues.

• Policy
• Pete Hegseth