US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth yesterday voiced concerns in talks with Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) about Beijing’s naval activity around Taiwan and the South China Sea, citing its impact on US security partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
The two talked on the sidelines of a gathering of defense chiefs from ASEAN in Kuala Lumpur.
“I highlighted the importance of maintaining a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific,” Hegseth wrote on social media. “United States does not seek conflict, it will continue to stoutly defend its interests and ensure it has the capabilities in the region to do so.”
Photo: Bloomberg
Dong told Hegseth the US should exercise caution in its words and actions on the Taiwan issue and unequivocally oppose “Taiwan independence,” and stressed that the reunification of China and Taiwan is an “unstoppable historical trend,” a Chinese government statement quoted the defense minister as saying.
The meeting was the first high-level encounter between China and the US after US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea on Thursday, where the two broadly agreed to reduce trade tensions sparked by US tariffs and to stabilize relations between the world’s two largest economies.
Trump said that Taiwan did not come up in his talks with Xi.
Hegseth has been lobbying US allies and security partners in the Indo-Pacific region for months to boost their defense spending and push back against China’s assertiveness in the region, while warning that greater urgency is needed to prepare for a potential invasion of Taiwan by Beijing.
Hegseth has been touring Asia and is scheduled to meet other defense ministers from ASEAN countries. He met Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi in Japan during the Asia trip, where he spoke about the threat both countries see from China and the importance of US-Japan cooperation in deterring Beijing.
The US military’s Indo-Pacific Command has issued an order this week to stage a “show of force” against what the Trump administration sees as Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, CBS News reported, citing sources it did not name.
It is unclear if the operation would actually take place, the sources told the TV network.
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