Beijing (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The Chinese foreign ministry said on Sunday that China has objected to the US against defamatory comments made by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and accused Washinton of willfully disregarding regional countries’ requests for peace.
Hegseth’s remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Saturday were described as “deplorable” and meant to sow discord, and the ministry said that China had protested Hegseth labelling it a danger in the Indo-Pacific.
Recently, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has cautioned that a “real and potentially imminent” threat from China is particularly regarding Taiwan and has called on allies in the Indo-Pacific region, including key security partner Australia, to increase defence spending and strengthen their cooperation with the United States to deter conflict through deterrent capability.
How did China react to Hegseth’s accusations?
In response, the Chinese ministry responded,
“Hegseth deliberately ignored the call for peace and development by countries in the region and instead touted the Cold War mentality for bloc confrontation, vilified China with defamatory allegations, and falsely called China a threat.”
“The United States has deployed offensive weaponry in the South China Sea and kept stoking flames and creating tensions in the Asia-Pacific, which are turning the region into a powder keg,”
it also said in the announcement.
Is Hegseth stoking regional fears with his remarks?
In remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Hegseth described China as aspiring to regional hegemony, raising its military capacity to use force to change the balance of power, with a timeline around 2027 for being ready to invade Taiwan. He said the U.S. has no intention of supplanting China but will not allow itself to be pushed out of Asia or allow intimidation of allies.
He had encouraged partners in the Indo-Pacific area, including critical security supporter Australia, to increase their security spending after caution of the unpretentious and potentially looming threat posed by Beijing.
What is the US strategy in the South China Sea?
The U.S. military last year used Typhon launchers, which can fire missiles at targets in China and Russia from the island of Luzon, as part of the United States’ long-standing defense relations with the Philippines.
In the South China Sea, China and the Philippines dispute control over a number of islands and atolls, and their coast guards are increasingly clashing as they compete to monitor the waterways.
Joint marine operations in the crowded waterway have been carried out by the US, Australia, Japan, and the Philippines. Nearly the whole South China Sea is claimed by China, including portions of the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. An international arbitration panel declared in 2016 that Beijing’s broad claim lacked international legal support. But the US was also cautioned by China’s foreign ministry not to play fire with the Taiwan issue.
