{"id":1877,"date":"2026-05-30T06:36:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=1877"},"modified":"2026-05-30T06:36:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:36:45","slug":"hegseth-tones-down-warnings-about-china-but-says-us-remains-committed-to-pacific-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=1877","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth tones down warnings about China but says US remains committed to Pacific security"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

SINGAPORE (AP) \u2014 U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth assured Pacific allies on Saturday that Washington remained committed to the region, but toned down previous comments calling China a threat.<\/p>\n

Read more Andersen remains steady in emotional win as Hurricanes advance to Stanley Cup Final<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking to a group of world leaders, diplomats and top security officials at the Shangri-La defense conference in Singapore, Hegseth said that the region \u201chas profound implications for U.S. security and prosperity\u201d and that Washington\u2019s priority was to \u201cachieve a lasting and favorable balance of power in the Pacific.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was his second time addressing the forum, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Last year, he raised the ire of Beijing by warning of rapidly developing threats from China, particularly its aggressive stance toward Taiwan. He said China is no longer just building up its military forces to take Taiwan, it\u2019s \u201cactively training for it, every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, however, the meeting comes only about two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump visited Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, following which Trump called Xi a \u201cgreat leader\u201d and said that they were going to have a \u201cfantastic future together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hegseth says China won\u2019t be allowed to dominate the region<\/h3>\n

Hegseth, who was with Trump in Beijing, said the two leaders had agreed that China and the U.S. should \u201cbuild a constructive relationship of strategic stability, based on fairness and reciprocity, reaffirming that while our nations will vigorously protect our respective interests, we can secure practical, mutually beneficial agreements where our interests align.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he said it was still an American priority to ensure that China is not allowed to dominate the Indo-Pacific. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is rightful alarm regarding China\u2019s historic military buildup and the expansion of its military activities in the region and beyond,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe share a clear-eyed assessment of that security environment and a mutual understanding that a Pacific dominated by any hegemon would unravel the regional balance of power and undermine the equilibrium we all seek to preserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, part of a congressional delegation to the conference, accused the Trump administration of \u201ccozying up\u201d to China.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worry that this administration is being distracted into wars that they\u2019ve started in other parts of the world at the expense of our commitment here in the Indo-Pacific,\u201d the Illinois Democrat told reporters on the sidelines. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am concerned that it seems like our president is entering into, you know, policies where he\u2019s doing what Beijing wants him to do,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

After the meetings between Xi and Trump, the American president raised questions about Washington\u2019s willingness to defend Taiwan, calling a new $14 billion arms package that he has yet to greenlight \u201ca very good negotiating chip for us\u201d with China. <\/p>\n

Read more J.J. Spaun is contending at Colonial and believing things are aligning for his U.S. Open defense<\/a><\/p>\n

China claims the democratic self-governing island as its own, and Xi has not ruled out using force to take it. The U.S. is required by law to help provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, though follows a policy of \u201cstrategic ambiguity\u201d on whether it would intervene militarily if China were to attack the island.<\/p>\n

Hegseth told the forum that there was \u201cno change in our status\u201d toward Taiwan, but would not comment on the arms deal. <\/p>\n

\u201cAny decision about future Taiwan arms sales, as the president said, will rest with him,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

US praises countries that spent more on defense<\/h3>\n

He underscored the Trump administration\u2019s insistence that allies increase defense spending, saying \u201cwe need partners, not protectorates.\u201d <\/p>\n

He lauded several countries in Asia for their efforts, while reiterating criticism of European allies, without naming names, who he suggested got \u201cdistracted by empty globalist rhetoric about the rules-based international order.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur partners in Asia have long understood that the bedrock of a durable partnership is not based on idealistic values but on the concrete alignment of national interests,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen our interests diverge, we adjust pragmatically, without the drama or the moralizing,\u201d he added. \u201cI think Western Europe might take note \u2014 this is a mindset we fully embrace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hegseth did not mention either the war in Ukraine or Iran war in his speech. When asked about Iran, he only said that Trump had assured him that when negotiations with Tehran had concluded, \u201cany deal will be a good deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles, whose country was among those Hegseth praised for increased military spending, said that while the international rules-based order is not perfect, the \u201ctask before us, all of us, including the great powers, is the renovation of that order, not its dismemberment.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the rules apply, smaller states have agency,\u201d Marles said in a speech that followed Hegseth\u2019s. \u201cWhen the rules yield to power, sovereignty becomes, as others have put it, the purview of the powerful, and no state in this room today, whatever its size, is well served by that outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Hurricanes roll past Canadiens 6-1 in Eastern Conference Final, earn trip to Stanley Cup Final<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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