US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth yesterday warned that any Chinese attempt to use force against Taiwan would have consequences far beyond the Indo-Pacific region, calling for coordinated regional efforts to deter aggression and ensure stability.
“Every day, China’s military harasses Taiwan. These activities have been paired with China’s rapid military modernization and buildup,” Hegseth said at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore.
“There’s no reason to sugarcoat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent,” Hegseth said, adding that “any attempt by communist China to conquer Taiwan would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
He also reiterated US President Donald Trump’s vow that “China will not invade [Taiwan] on his watch.”
China views Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to “unify” the nation, by force if necessary. It has stepped up military and political pressure to assert those claims, including increasing the intensity of war games around Taiwan.
The government rejects China’s sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwanese can decide their future.
“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,” Hegseth said.
He reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific region, which he described as “America’s priority theater,” and called for greater cooperation with Japan, the Philippines and other partners in the region to maintain peace and enhance deterrence.
The US is “reorienting toward deterring aggression by communist China” through improving its forward force posture, rebuilding its defense industrial bases, and helping allies and partners bolster their defense capabilities, Hegseth said.
While the US does not seek conflict with China, it would not allow Beijing to “dominate and control” the Indo-Pacific region, he said, calling out Beijing’s buildup in the South China Sea and use of cybercapabilities to “steal industrial technology” and “attack critical infrastructure.”
Hegseth urged US partners to increase military spending, adding that as Washington pivots to the Indo-Pacific region — leaving Europe to take more responsibility for its own defense — it also expects its Asian and Pacific partners to “upgrade” their militaries and act as “force multipliers.”
He also called out China for its ambitions in Latin America, particularly its efforts to increase its influence over the Panama Canal.
Hegseth urged countries in the region to increase defense spending to levels similar to the 5 percent of GDP European nations are pressed to contribute.
Following the speech, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas pushed back at Hegseth’s comment that European countries should focus their defense efforts in their own region and leave the Indo-Pacific region more to the US.
With North Korean troops fighting for Russia and China supporting Moscow, European and Asian security were “very much interlinked,” she said.
Over the past few months, the Trump administration has taken a Patriot missile defense battalion out of the Indo-Pacific region to send it to the Middle East, a massive logistical operation that required more than 73 military cargo aircraft flights, and sent coast guard ships back to the US to help defend the US-Mexico border.
Hegseth was asked why the US pulled those resources if the Indo-Pacific region was its priority.
He did not answer directly, but said the shift of resources was necessary to defend against Houthi missile attacks from Yemen and to bolster protections against illegal immigration to the US.
At the same time, he stressed the need for allies and partners of the US to step up their own defense spending and preparations, saying that Washington was not interested in doing it alone.
“Ultimately a strong, resolute and capable network of allies and partners is our key strategic advantage,” he said. “China envies what we have together and it sees what we can collectively bring to bear on defense, but it’s up to all of us to ensure that we live up to that potential by investing.”
China usually sends its own minister of defense to the forum, but Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) did not attend this year.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
‘COMING MENACINGLY’: The CDC advised wearing a mask when visiting hospitals or long-term care centers, on public transportation and in crowded indoor venues Hospital visits for COVID-19 last week increased by 113 percent to 41,402, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, as it encouraged people to wear a mask in three public settings to prevent infection. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said weekly hospital visits for COVID-19 have been increasing for seven consecutive weeks, and 102 severe COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths were confirmed last week, both the highest weekly numbers this year. CDC physician Lee Tsung-han (李宗翰) said the youngest person hospitalized due to the disease this year was reported last week, a one-month-old baby, who does not
RSS