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Defense secretary adopts softer tone on Beijing in speech to partners concerned about U.S. security commitment

SINGAPORE—Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth renewed calls for America’s allies in Asia to increase military spending to boost deterrence against China, in a speech marked by a shift away from a confrontational stance toward Beijing.

“The era of the U.S. subsidizing the defense of wealthy nations is over. We need partners, not protectorates,” Hegseth said in a Saturday speech, while offering assurances that the Trump administration wouldn’t reduce the U.S. security presence in Asia as it seeks calmer ties with China.

The U.S. wants “a favorable but durable balance of power in which no state, including China, can impose its hegemony and hold the security or prosperity of our nation and our allies in question,” Hegseth said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, an annual security conference attended by senior defense officials from Asian and Western countries.

“Make no mistake, America is a Pacific nation,” he said. “And we insist that China respect our longstanding position in the region.”

Even so, Hegseth moderated his rhetoric on Beijing in a shift from last year’s dialogue, where he repeatedly referred to “Communist China” as a threat to regional stability and warned against any Chinese invasion of Taiwan, the island democracy that Beijing claims as its territory.

This year, Hegseth didn’t refer to China’s Communist leadership, nor did he mention Taiwan in his speech. He said U.S.-China relations are “better than they have been in many years,” pointing to President Trump’s summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing this month, when the two leaders expressed a mutual desire for more stability in bilateral ties.

Hegseth’s remarks echoed some of the messages he delivered at last year’s dialogue, when he said the Trump administration saw Asia as a priority region—even as U.S. partners expressed anxiety over Trump’s tariffs and movement of some American military assets out of the region.

Regional perceptions of the U.S. have soured since Trump took office last year. According to a survey conducted from January to February by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, a Singapore-based think tank, U.S. leadership under Trump now ranks as the top geopolitical concern among Southeast Asian thought leaders, surpassing worries over tensions in the South China Sea—the biggest concern in last year’s survey.

“The Trump administration’s transactional approach to alliances and partnerships has created uncertainty for U.S. allies around the world,” the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the London-based think tank that organizes the Shangri-La Dialogue, said in an assessment of Asia-Pacific security issues published Friday.

“Diplomacy with the United States’ East Asian allies has sent mixed messages that have both bolstered and undermined its credibility,” the IISS said. Trump’s calls for allies to invest in their own defense capabilities “also caused fears of abandonment,” it said.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D., Ill.) told reporters at the conference that U.S. allies are anxious about the U.S. commitment to Asia under Trump. “I have NATO allies worried about America’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific,” she said.

Hegseth brushed off such concerns on Saturday, saying the U.S. will maintain a strong military posture in the Western Pacific that “ensures aggression is infeasible.” What Washington expects in return, he said, is that regional countries stop freeloading off American security.

“For too long, the security of this region has rested disproportionately on American military power, while many of our allies and partners allowed their own defense capabilities to atrophy,” Hegseth said. “That’s a bad deal for the American taxpayer.”

The defense secretary said Washington would make it a priority to work with “model allies,” offering them benefits such as expedited arms sales as well as deeper industrial and intelligence. “President Trump believes in helping countries that help themselves.”

Hegseth only discussed Taiwan once on Saturday, when a delegate asked whether U.S. military operations against Iran would affect Washington’s arms sales to Taipei. In response, he said the two issues shouldn’t be linked, and that any decision on the future of Taiwan arms sales rests with Trump.

Xi has described Taiwan as the most sensitive issue in China-U.S. relations, a stance he reiterated at his meeting with Trump this month. Beijing has committed to a policy of “peaceful unification” with Taiwan since 1979, though successive Chinese leaders, including Xi, have also refused to renounce the possible use of military force to seize the island.

Hegseth said U.S. defense officials are meeting “more frequently” with their Chinese counterparts to improve coordination and reduce the risk of miscalculation, in accordance with a consensus reached between Trump and Xi in Beijing.

Asked by a Chinese senior colonel about how the U.S. would implement the consensus, Hegseth said the Pentagon would maximize the opportunities to confer with Beijing on issues including maritime or aerial actions.

The U.S. and Chinese militaries aren’t expected to engage directly at the Shangri-La Dialogue this year, with China sending its lowest-level delegation since senior Chinese military officers started attending the conference nearly two decades ago.

Beijing generally sees the dialogue as a Western-dominated forum where participants often criticize China. Analysts say Beijing calibrates the seniority of its top delegate according to prevailing geopolitical factors.

China had sent its defense minister, a primarily diplomatic role with no combat responsibilities, to four straight editions of the dialogue before downgrading its representation last year. The top Chinese delegate this year is a one-star major general and professor at Beijing’s National Defense University—a further step down from last year when the university’s vice president led the delegation.

China’s incumbent defense minister, Adm. Dong Jun, and Hegseth both attended the Xi-Trump summit in Beijing and conversed at a state banquet. It wasn’t clear whether they held any formal meetings.

“I wish my counterpart was here at this conference,” Hegseth said Saturday. “But I look forward to other options when we can cross paths and communicate.”