SINGAPORE — At the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier defense summit, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a strong warning about China’s intentions to shift the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region.
Hegseth asserted that the U.S. is reorienting its military focus toward deterring potential aggression from Communist China, encouraging regional allies to partake in this effort.
“It has to be clear to all that Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific,” he said, addressing a gathering of civilian and military leaders.
While Hegseth emphasized that the U.S. does not seek conflict or aim to dominate its rivals, he acknowledged that past U.S. administrations had made similar promises to maintain peace with Beijing.
Retired Chinese Senior Colonel Zhou Bo, currently a senior fellow at Tsinghua University in Beijing, remarked that Hegseth’s speech was more hostile than those of previous U.S. officials at the Shangri-La Dialogue and carried undertones of ideological rivalry.
Zhou questioned which part of Hegseth’s remarks should be taken at face value, pointing out the contradictions between Hegseth’s supportive stance toward U.S. allies and Vice President Vance’s critical comments made earlier at the Munich Security Conference.
As part of its strategic reorientation, the U.S. may consider adjusting its military posture in Asia, including a possible withdrawal of some of the 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea, which Hegseth indicated could be a necessity, especially concerning Taiwan, a region identified by the Pentagon as its “sole pacing scenario.”
Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, noted that U.S. interests might differ from those of South Korea, which primarily sees North Korea as its main threat.
Cooper stated that there is a likelihood of changes in U.S. force posture in the Korean Peninsula, suggesting that U.S. priorities may increasingly center on countering China rather than addressing the North Korean threat.
Hegseth’s rhetoric concerning U.S. military strategies is reminiscent of President Trump’s “America First” approach, which prioritizes national interests in defense policies.
He criticized the Biden administration’s strategies as “feckless” and highlighted the previous administration’s efforts to secure borders against illegal immigration while maintaining a tough stance on China.
The defense secretary reiterated that the U.S. is not aiming to pressure other nations into adopting American political ideologies.
However, he cautioned Asian countries about increasing economic entanglements with China, warning that such dependencies might deepen the influence of the Chinese Communist Party and complicate defense decisions during periods of tension.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, also speaking at the dialogue, expressed his intention for Malaysia to remain non-aligned amid growing superpower rivalries and emphasized the importance of maintaining balance and cooperation in Southeast Asia.
Ibrahim stated, “What Southeast Asia needs is a dynamic equilibrium that enables cooperation without coercion, and balance without bloc politics.”
Providing a contrasting perspective, French President Emmanuel Macron, in a speech prior to Hegseth’s address, criticized U.S. policies and urged countries to strive for strategic autonomy in the face of the U.S.-China rivalry.
Macron advocated for nations to collaborate without enduring constant directives from a singular authority and condemned what he saw as double standards in U.S. responses to global conflicts.
He notably challenged the inconsistency of U.S. support for Taiwan while concurrently appearing to abandon Ukraine, suggesting this could undermine American credibility on the world stage.
In response, China’s embassy in Singapore criticized the comparison between Taiwan and Ukraine, declaring it unacceptable and reinforcing that Taiwan is an internal affair of China.
They further noted, “If we use a double standard to look at a double standard, we still end up with a double standard.”
image source from：https://www.npr.org/2025/05/31/nx-s1-5414180/shangri-la-dialogue
