Special to WorldTribune.com

By John J. Metzler, June 6, 2025

“There’s no reason to sugarcoat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, adding that “any attempt by communist China to conquer Taiwan would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world.”

Speaking at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Secretary Hegseth offered a clear and compelling overview of continuing American geopolitical interests in the Indo-Pacific region.

Restating the significant political objectives of an enduring and expanding U.S. defense commitment to East Asia, Pete Hegseth underscored the wide breadth of Washington’s continuing regional security commitment.

The secretary of defense, speaking in this multilateral defense forum stated clearly; “the United States is committed to achieving peace through strength. That starts with deterring aggression around the world and here in the Indo-Pacific, here in our priority theater, here with you, our allies and our partners.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth / Video Image

He challenged Beijing’s bellicose and baseless claims the South China Sea as its exclusive maritime territory. The Sea and its far flung island groups have long had overlapping claims by six different countries to these disputed waters.

Hegseth focused his comments particularly towards Beijing’s actions against self-ruled Taiwan; “China’s military harasses Taiwan. These activities have been paired with China’s rapid military modernization and buildup, including huge investments in nuclear weapons, hyper-sonics, and amphibious assault capabilities.”

He said, “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.”

“The threat China poses is real,” Hegseth stated starkly, “It’s public that Xi has ordered his military to be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027. The PLA is building the military needed to do it.”

In fact, since the formal divide of China in 1949 when the communists seized the mainland, the Beijing regime has never renounced the use of force to “reunite Taiwan with the Motherland.”

Hegseth asserted, “President Trump has also said that Communist China will not invade Taiwan on his watch. So, our goal is to prevent war, to make the costs too high, and peace the only option. And we will do this with a strong shield of deterrence, forged together with you, America’s great allies and defense partners.”

Taiwan’s President William Lai plans to increase defense spending to 3 percent of GDP this year through a special defense budget. Washington aims to sell additional weapons packages to the democratic island. It’s noted that the first Trump administration approved weapons sales of about $18 billion to Taiwan, compared with $8.4 billion during the former Biden years.

Naturally many foreign critics and as well as friends of the Trump Administration have been perplexed if not confused by some of the president’s rhetoric on trade and tariffs more than his actions. This is understandable; The ambiguity of many statements on the other hand has notably outlined growing defense partnerships with Australia, Japan, and the Philippines.

Thus, the secretary reiterated Washington’s role in the larger global picture:

“America First certainly does not mean America alone. Especially alongside so many of our allies, model allies like Poland, Israel, and the Gulf States, the Baltic States. It does not mean ignoring the world.”

The Singapore Shangra-la Dialogue, Asia’s premier security forum sponsored by London’s International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), brings together both regional leaders from Southeast Asia, Australia and Japan as well as key European political figures.

Yet during the recent Singapore Forum, a Chinese Naval Carrier Group was lurking in the waters east of Taiwan.

The Aircraft Carrier Liaoning and escort vessels of the People’s Liberation Army/Navy (PLAN) was operating off the southeast coast of Taiwan; Earlier it had sailed near Japanese territorial waters.

In early April the Chinese Air Force and Navy carried out combined operations around Taiwan in a clearly menacing manner. Such encirclement maneuvers can forewarn the first stages of a planned attack.

Secretary Pete Hegseth’s words in Singapore, while starkly realistic, moreover present a measured and overdue clarion call for active deterrence and enhanced vigilance. Countering China does not mean seeking military conflict but rather giving Beijing the hesitation before starting one.

John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of Divided Dynamism the Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China (2014). [See pre-2011 Archives]

  Hegseth puts Beijing and world on notice: Don’t ‘sugarcoat’ China’s threat to Taiwan

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