The American Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, warned against China constituting an “imminent” threat to Taiwan, while exhorting Asian countries to stimulate defense spending and to work with the United States to dissuade war.
Hegseth also said that even if the United States does not “seek to dominate or strangle China”, the United States would not be pushed outside Asia and would not allow allies intimidation.
It was addressed to senior Asian military officials at Shangri-La dialogue, a high-level defense summit held every year in Singapore.
Many in Asia fear potential instability if China invades Taiwan, an autonomous island claimed by Beijing. China has not excluded the use of force.
Beijing has not yet answered the remarks of HegSeth Taiwan.
In his speech, Hegseth characterized China as seeking to become a “hegemonic power” which “hopes to dominate and control too many parts of Asia. China clashed with several neighbors on competing territorial claims in the Southern China Sea.
He said that Beijing was preparing “in a credible manner to potentially use the military force to modify the balance of powers” in Asia, and referred to a deadline in 2027 that President Xi Jinping would have given that the Chinese army was able to invade Taiwan.
This is a date presented by American officials and generals for years, but has never been confirmed by Beijing.
China “builds the soldiers necessary to do so, train for this, every day and repeat for the real matter,” said Hegseth.
“Let me be clear: any attempt by Communist China to conquer Taiwan by force would cause devastating consequences for Indo-Pacific and the world. There is no reason to do so sugar.
The Shangri-La dialogue has traditionally served as a platform for the United States and China to make their land in Asian countries as they are jostling for influence in the region.
But while this year, the United States has sent one of its largest delegations of all time, China rather sent a particularly level delegation and abandoned its speech scheduled for Sunday.
No explanation has been given for this.
