Singapore. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reassured Indo-Pacific allies on Saturday that they will not be left alone to face increasing military and economic pressure from China, while insisting they must also contribute more to their own defense.

Hegseth said Washington will bolster its overseas defenses to counter what the Pentagon sees as rapidly developing threats from Beijing, particularly its aggressive stance toward Taiwan. China has conducted numerous exercises simulating a blockade of the self-governing island, which Beijing claims as its own and which the US has pledged to defend.

China’s military “is rehearsing for the real deal,” Hegseth said during a keynote speech at a security conference in Singapore. “We are not going to sugarcoat it; the threat China poses is real. And it could be imminent.”

Hegseth Says China is Training to Invade Taiwan

China aims to have the capability to take Taiwan by force if necessary by 2027, a deadline experts view as aspirational rather than a fixed timeline.

Beyond Taiwan, China has built sophisticated artificial islands in the South China Sea to support military outposts and developed advanced hypersonic and space capabilities, prompting the US to pursue its own space-based “Golden Dome” missile defenses.

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a global security conference hosted by the International Institute for Security Studies, Hegseth said China is no longer just building up its military forces to take Taiwan; it is “actively training for it, every day.”

Hegseth also criticized China’s ambitions in Latin America, particularly efforts to increase its influence over the Panama Canal. He urged countries in the region to raise defense spending to levels similar to the 5 percent of GDP that European nations are now pressed to meet.

“We must all do our part,” Hegseth said.

Following the speech, the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, pushed back on Hegseth’s comment that European countries should focus their defense efforts in their own region and leave the Indo-Pacific more to the US. Kallas said with North Korean troops fighting for Russia and China supporting Moscow, European and Asian security were “very much interlinked.”

Questions Raised About US Commitment to Indo-Pacific

Hegseth reiterated pledges from previous administrations to bolster US military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific and provide a stronger deterrent. Although the Obama and Biden administrations committed to pivoting to the Pacific and forged new military agreements in the region, a full shift of resources has yet to materialize.

US military assets from the Indo-Pacific have regularly been redirected to the Middle East and Europe, especially since the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. In the early months of President Donald Trump’s second term, this trend continued.

In recent months, the Trump administration withdrew a Patriot missile defense battalion from the Indo-Pacific to send it to the Middle East, a massive logistical effort involving more than 73 military cargo flights, and redeployed Coast Guard ships back to the US to help secure the US-Mexico border.

When asked why the US pulled those resources despite prioritizing the Indo-Pacific, Hegseth did not directly answer but said the redeployment was necessary to defend against Houthi missile attacks from Yemen and to strengthen protections against illegal immigration.

He stressed that American allies and partners must increase their own defense spending and preparedness, saying the US was not interested in acting 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.”

Indo-Pacific Nations Balance Relations

Indo-Pacific nations caught between the US and China have tried to balance relations with both. Beijing is the primary trading partner for many but is also feared as a regional bully, particularly due to aggressive claims on natural resources such as critical fisheries.

Hegseth cautioned that relying on China economically deepens its malign influence and complicates defense decisions during times of tension.

“Economic dependence on China only deepens their malign influence and complicates our defense decision space during times of tension,” Hegseth said.

When asked how he reconciled that with Trump’s threat of steep tariffs on many countries in the region, Hegseth replied, “I’m in the business of tanks, not trade.”

China Sends Lower-Level Delegation

China typically sends its defense minister to the conference, but this year Dong Jun did not attend, a snub to the US and the unpredictable tariff war ignited by Trump --a situation the US delegation said it intended to leverage.

“We are here this morning. And somebody else isn’t,” Hegseth said.

When a member of the Chinese delegation, comprised of lower-level officers from the National Defense University, questioned the US commitment to regional alliances, especially in areas where China wields dominant influence, Hegseth said the US is open to working with any country willing to engage.

“We are not going to look only inside the confines of how previous administrations looked at this region,” he said. “We’re opening our arms to countries across the spectrum --traditional allies, non-traditional allies.”

Hegseth added that US support for Indo-Pacific nations would not require local governments to align with the West on cultural or climate issues.

Whether the US can or wants to supplant China as the region’s primary economic driver remains unclear. But Hegseth’s remarks follow Trump’s recent Middle East visit, which resulted in billions of dollars in new defense agreements.