Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a stark warning to Asian allies on Saturday, portraying the threat China poses to the region as “real, and it could be imminent.”
In his first speech to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Hegseth was blunt about Washington’s view of the Chinese military buildup in the region and the threat it poses to Taiwan, calling on allies to spend more on defense while pledging continued American partnership and support.
“There’s no reason to sugarcoat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent,” Hegseth said. Any Chinese military move on Taiwan “would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world,” he added.
The secretary’s comments were delivered in front of a packed room of Asian diplomats, military officials and business leaders, who heard the most fulsome comments on the threat of China delivered by any member of the Trump administration to date. It comes after President Donald Trump delivered a speech in Saudi Arabia this month outlining his vision of a reduced American military footprint around the world, while pushing allies to invest more heavily in their own security.
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