Trump Plays Nice With Asian Allies Stung by Repeated Threats
How did your country report this? Share your view in the comments.
Diverging Reports Breakdown
Pentagon chief warns of imminent China threat, asks Asian allies to spend more on defence
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned on Saturday that the threat from China was real and potentially imminent as he pushed allies in the Indo-Pacific to spend more on their own defence needs. “There’s no reason to sugar coat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent,” he said. China views Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to “reunify” with the democratic and separately governed island, by force if necessary. China has stepped up military and political pressure to assert those claims, including increasing the intensity of war games around Taiwan. China’s Defence Minister Dong Jun has decided to skip the major Asian security forum in Singapore and Beijing has sent only an academic delegation. The Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier forum for defence leaders, militaries and diplomats, underlined that the region was a priority for the Trump administration. It was the first time that Heg seth had acknowledged that European countries were stepping up their defence spending. In February, he warned Europe against treating America like a “sucker”
Speech could cause consternation among allies
Pentagon chief has blasted European allies in past for not spending enough
SINGAPORE, May 31 (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned on Saturday that the threat from China was real and potentially imminent as he pushed allies in the Indo-Pacific to spend more on their own defence needs.
Hegseth, speaking for the first time at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia’s premier forum for defence leaders, militaries and diplomats, underlined that the Indo-Pacific region was a priority for the Trump administration.
Sign up here.
“There’s no reason to sugar coat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent,” Hegseth said, in some of his strongest comments on the Communist nation since he took office in January. He added that any attempt by China to conquer Taiwan “would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world”, and echoed Trump’s comment that China will not invade Taiwan on the president’s watch.
China views Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to “reunify” with the democratic and separately governed island, 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.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people 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.
China said the comments “were steeped in provocations and instigation”.
“Mr. Hegseth repeatedly smeared and attacked China and relentlessly played up the so-called ‘China threat’,” the Chinese embassy in Singapore said on its Facebook page. “As a matter of fact, the U.S. itself is the biggest ‘troublemaker’ for regional peace and stability.”
Hegseth’s comments on allies needing to increase spending is likely to cause consternation amongst partners, even though experts said he faced a relatively friendly audience in Singapore. China’s Defence Minister Dong Jun has decided to skip the major Asian security forum and Beijing has sent only an academic delegation.
Hegseth has previously taken aim at allies in Europe for not spending more on their own defence. In February, he warned Europe against treating America like a “sucker” while addressing a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
On Friday, while delivering the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, French President Emmanuel Macron said Hegseth was justified in asking Europe to increase its own defence spending.
EUROPE STEPPING UP
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, May 31, 2025. REUTERS/Edgar Su Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab
“It’s hard to believe, a little bit, after some trips to Europe that I’m saying this, but thanks to President Trump, Asian allies should look to countries in Europe as a new found example,” Hegseth said.
“NATO members are pledging to spend 5% of their GDP on defence, even Germany. So it doesn’t make sense for countries in Europe to do that while key allies in Asia spend less on defence in the face of an even more formidable threat, not to mention North Korea.”
Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans said it was important to have Hegseth acknowledge that European countries were stepping up.
“It was for me maybe the first time or one of the first times I heard the U.S administration acknowledge this explicitly,” Brekelmans said, referring to Hegseth’s comments.
U.S. Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, who is co-leading a bi-partisan delegation to the Shangri-la Dialogue, said it was noteworthy that Hegseth emphasised that the United States was committed to the region, but his language on allies was not helpful.
“I thought it was patronising of our friends in the Indo-Pacific in particular,” Duckworth said.
Spending on weapons and research is spiking among some Asian countries as they respond to a darkening security outlook by broadening their outside industrial partnerships while trying to boost their own defence industries, according to a new study by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, the organisation that runs the Shangri-La Dialogue.
The spike comes even as Asian nations spent an average of 1.5% of GDP on defence in 2024, a figure that has kept relatively constant over the last decade, it said.
Hegseth suggested that allies in Europe focus on security on the European continent, so that Washington could focus on the threat posed by China in the Indo-Pacific, alongside more participation by allies in Asia.
“We would much prefer that the overwhelming balance of European investment be on that continent, so that as we partner there, which we will continue to do, we’re able to use our comparative advantage as an Indo-Pacific nation to support our partners here,” he said in response to a question after his speech.
Hegseth, a former Fox TV host who has spent much of his first months in office focused on domestic issues, spoke to the international audience on topics that he has frequently talked about when in the United States, like “restoring the warrior ethos.”
“We are not here to pressure other countries to embrace or adopt our politics or ideology. We are not here to preach to you about climate change or cultural issues,” Hegseth said. “We respect you, your traditions and your militaries. And we want to work with you where our shared interests align.”
Reporting by Idrees Ali. Additional reporting by Jun Yuan Yong and Fanny Potkin; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Shri Navaratnam
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab
Share X
Link Purchase Licensing Rights
Trump plays nice with Asian allies stung by tariffs, repeated threats
US president uses three-nation tour of Asia to hammer home a clear message: The US still has your back. Trump said the US was “wedded” to South Korea, addressed some of its concerns about a $350 billion investment pledge. He avoided watering down the US commitment to Taiwan in a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. But for all the assurances, nations across the Asia-Pacific region must still reckon with a Trump 2.0 reality that features much costlier access to the American market, and the unpredictability inherent in his approach to international relations.. China’s president called for stable supply chains and deeper economic integration with the region, while his Premier Li Qiang expanded a trade pact with Southeast Asian nations already deeply reliant on the world’s second-biggest economy. The US president also didn’t stick around for key parts of the two summits. He left Malaysia ahead of a key regional discussion and then flew out of South Korea prior to the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ sessions on Friday and Saturday.
After months of tariff threats and brow-beating on defense spending, American allies in Asia had ample reason to be wary of President Donald Trump. But he ended up using a three-nation tour of the region to hammer home a clear message: The US still has your back.
Trump said the US was “wedded” to South Korea, addressed some of its concerns about a $350 billion investment pledge and approved its request for nuclear-powered submarines. He told Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that she can ask him for help with “anything.” And he avoided watering down the US commitment to Taiwan in a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, while his defense chief, Pete Hegseth, voiced concerns about Beijing’s naval activities around the island democracy.
The US president also sought to mend ties with Southeast Asian nations that have leaned closer toward Beijing as Trump took aim at their economic growth engines — signing trade agreements with Cambodia and Malaysia and frameworks for deals with Thailand and Vietnam. Hegseth, traveling separately in the region, signed a 10-year defense deal with India and announced that military exercises with Cambodia would resume for the first time in eight years. “It’s much better than what I expected — the trust, the friendship and the commitment to enhance relations,” Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said of his discussions with Trump, speaking to Bloomberg while displaying a presidential coin given by the US leader moments earlier.
Yet for all the assurances, nations across the Asia-Pacific region must still reckon with a Trump 2.0 reality that features much costlier access to the American market, and the unpredictability inherent in his approach to international relations. And China’s leaders also notched milestones of their own last week. Xi marked his first visit to South Korea in 11 years, had his first formal sit-down with a Canadian leader since 2017, and met Japan’s new conservative premier. China’s president called for stable supply chains and deeper economic integration with the region, while his Premier Li Qiang expanded a trade pact with Southeast Asian nations already deeply reliant on the world’s second-biggest economy.
“The Americans have to show that they are sort of dialing down the hostility and attempting to build constructive relations if they want to please their audiences in Southeast Asia,” said Bill Hayton, an associate fellow with the Asia-Pacific program at Chatham House, a London-based research group, who has written several books on Asia. The sometimes-truculent US president tilted toward charm, pageantry and protocol on his swing through Asia. In Malaysia, where he attended a gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, he briefly danced with local performers and waved US and Malaysian flags to the delight of onlookers. In Japan, he made a joint visit with Takaichi to a US aircraft carrier, where the nation’s first female leader pumped her fist into the air as troops cheered. In South Korea, he set aside the latest tensions with Canada to have a “very nice conversation” with Prime Minister Mark Carney. And at the top of his meeting with Xi, he refrained from his usual practice of engaging with reporters, turning to the business at hand.
Still, Trump’s attention to the region doesn’t amount to “full-spectrum engagement,” Hayton added. “It doesn’t compare with what the Chinese side are offering.” The US president also didn’t stick around for key parts of the two summits. He left Malaysia ahead of a key regional discussion and then flew out of South Korea prior to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ sessions on Friday and Saturday, which Xi attended. Thursday’s high-stakes meeting with Xi came as both the US and China sparred over tariffs and export curbs, with Beijing imposing sweeping controls on sales of rare-earth materials vital to manufacturers worldwide in retaliation for a move by the US Commerce Department to expand its own restrictions on semiconductor gear.
The result: A one-year truce that bought both sides time to further reduce dependence on each other in strategic areas. While not all issues are resolved, Trump’s plan to visit China in April at Xi’s invitation provides some momentum toward keeping the relationship stable. Heading into the Xi meeting, China hawks in Washington had feared Trump might go even further in loosening national-security restrictions, including approving the sale of Nvidia Corp.’s most-powerful chips and watering down support for Taiwan, which is claimed by Beijing. But neither happened. Among the week’s surprising developments was a trade deal clinched by Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, which seemed unlikely only days earlier given Korean concerns over the details of a $350 billion investment pledge. But the agreement capped South Korean annual investments at $20 billion, addressing Seoul’s worries about destabilizing the foreign-exchange market. And in a bonus, Trump gave a green light to South Korea’s long-running goal to build a nuclear-powered submarine.
Helping to smooth Trump’s Asia tour was a heavy dose of flattery. He was given a golden golf ball and a putter used by the late Shinzo Abe in Japan, while South Korea gave him a golden crown. He was given the opportunity to preside over a peace ceremony between Thailand and Cambodia after a recent border conflict, and Takaichi later told Trump she was joining other global leaders in nominating him for a Nobel Peace Prize. “I think President Trump wants to be a man of peace,” Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said in an interview. “He wants to promote peace and we welcome that.”
After arriving back in the US, Trump touted the strength of relations with Asian countries in a social media post. “Great Trade Deals were made, Long Term relationships now exist,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Hegseth repeated that sentiment at a regional defense meeting in Malaysia, telling reporters: “We were never gone and aren’t going anywhere.” But not everything went swimmingly. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stayed away from the Asean summit to avoid a meeting with the US president, Bloomberg reported. Trump then quipped on Wednesday that Modi was “the nicest-looking guy” who is also a “killer” eager to fight, threatening to further inflame relations with a nation that the US had previously courted as a counterweight to China.