U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth vows support for allies against China pressure
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reassured Indo-Pacific allies on Saturday that they will not be left to face growing military and economic pressure from China alone, while emphasizing the importance of their increased contributions to their own defense.
He said Washington will bolster its defenses overseas to counter what the Pentagon sees as rapidly developing threats by Beijing, particularly in its aggressive stance toward Taiwan, News.Az reports citing CBS news.
China has conducted numerous exercises to test what a blockade would look like of the self-governing island, which Beijing claims as its own and the U.S. has pledged to defend.
China's army "is rehearsing for the real deal," Hegseth said in 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."
The head of China's delegation accused Hegseth of making "groundless accusations."
"Some of the claims are completely fabricated, some distort facts and some are cases of a thief crying 'stop thief," said Rear Adm. Hu Gangfeng, vice president of China's National Defense University. He did not offer specific objections.
"These actions are nothing more than attempts to provoke trouble, incite division and stir up confrontation to destabilize the Asia-Pacific region," he said.
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