US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has warned China for “adjacent” threat to Taiwan, while urging Asian countries to promote defense spending and work to prevent war with the US.
Hegseth also said that while the US “” does not try to dominate or strangle China “, America will not be excluded from Asia and will not allow all colleagues to threaten.
He was addressing the top Asian military officers in the Shangri-La dialogue, a high-level defense summit held annually in Singapore.
Many people in Asia are afraid of potential instability if China attacked Taiwan, which is a self-governing island claimed by Beijing. China has not denied the use of force.
Beijing has not yet responded to Hegseth's Taiwan's comments.
In his speech, Hegseth demanded China to become a “hegmonic power”, which “expects to dominate and control many parts of Asia”. China has clashed with several neighbors over competitive regional claims in the South China Sea.
He said that Beijing “was preparing to use military forces potentially to change the balance of power in Asia”, and the 2027 deadline was mentioned which President Xi Jinping has allegedly given the Chinese army to be able to attack Taiwan.
This is the date ahead of the years by American authorities and generals, but has never been confirmed by Beijing.
Hegseth said that China is “building the necessary army to do it, training for this, rehearsing for every day and real deal”, Hegseth said.
“I must be clear: Communist China will have any effort to win Taiwan and there will be disastrous consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world. It has no reason to do sugarcane. China's danger is real. And it can be adjacent. We hope that it can definitely happen.”
The Shangri-La dialogue traditionally served as a platform for the United States and China so that they can make their pitch in Asian countries as they work for influence in the region.
But this year when the United States has sent one of its largest delegations, China instead has sent a particularly lower-level delegation and ended its planned speech on Sunday.
No explanation has been given for this.
