Beijing’s threat to Taiwan is “real” and a Chinese invasion of the disputed island could be “imminent,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has warned.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a security summit in Singapore, Hegseth said that China is “actively training” all the time for an invasion of Taiwan. China is “rehearsing for the real deal.”
“We are not going to sugarcoat it,” Hegseth remarked.
“The threat China poses is real. And it could be imminent.”
A delegation from Beijing was conspicuous in its absence from the summit, which Hegseth interpreted as a snub.
“We are here this morning. And somebody else isn’t,” he said.
Hegseth pushed America’s allies in the region to aim for defense spending at 5% of GDP, similar to the increased requirement for NATO members being demanded by the US.
“We must all do our part,” Hegseth said.
The speech by the Defense Secretary is part of a broad realignment in defense policy away from Europe and the Middle East. It also comes after President Trump slammed China on Friday for having “totally violated” its agreement on tariffs with the US.
President Trump slammed America’s principal competitor for violating the agreement it made with the US two weeks ago in order to prevent what Trump called the “devastating” effects of his “Liberation Day” tariffs.
“Two weeks ago China was in grave economic danger!” The President posted.
“The very high Tariffs I set made it virtually impossible for China to TRADE into the United States marketplace which is, by far, number one in the World. We went, in effect, COLD TURKEY with China, and it was devastating for them. Many factories closed and there was, to put it mildly, ‘civil unrest.’ I saw what was happening and didn’t like it, for them, not for us. I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn’t want to see that happen. Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added that trade talks between the world’s two largest economies were “a bit stalled.”
Bessent said the intervention of Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping would probably be necessary to bring the talks over the finishing line. He said progress had been slow, but he expects more talks in the coming weeks.
The temporary truce, reached two weeks ago, resulted in a 90-day end to the 100%+ tariffs that both countries had imposed on each other. Markets reacted with great relief to the truce.