Hegseth warns of ‘devastating consequences’ should China seek to ‘conquer’ Taiwan

Pete Hegseth made the remarks at an annual security forum in Singapore as the Trump administration spars with China on trade, technology and strategic global influence.

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth at the Shangri-La Dialogue Summit in Singapore. Picture: Mohd Rasfan / AFP

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed that there would be “devastating consequences” should China seek to “conquer” Taiwan, in a speech that appeared aimed at easing concerns in Asia over the US commitment to its allies in the region.

In what was his most assertive statement to date on Taiwan, Hegseth issued a stark warning that threats to the island from China “could be imminent.”

Hegseth said that the US’s goal is “to prevent war” through deterrence with allies. “But if deterrence fails, and if called upon by my commander in chief, we are prepared to do what the Department of Defense does best, to fight and win decisively,” he said.

He also said Asia is the Trump administration’s priority region. The US has long struggled to recalibrate its commitments in Europe and the Middle East to focus on Asia. President Trump came into office promising to end the conflict in Ukraine, but his efforts have so far been frustrated.

Hegseth made the remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, a security conference attended by many top defence officials from Asian and Western countries.

“To be clear: Any attempt by Communist China to conquer Taiwan by force would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world. We are not going to sugar-coat it. The threat China poses is real. And it could be imminent,” Hegseth said without outlining what those consequences would be.

At the same time, he said that “Communist China will not invade Taiwan on [President Trump’s] watch.”

The defence secretary didn’t elaborate as to how the US would respond to Chinese aggression against Taiwan. Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory and has refused to rule out using force to take control of the self-governed island.

Rear Admiral Hu Gangfeng, China’s top delegate at the Shangri-La Dialogue, pushed back against what he called “groundless accusations against China” made at the conference, without specifying what comments he was responding to.

“Some of the content was fabricated from nothing, some of it inverted black and white,” Hu, vice president of China’s National Defense University, told delegates in a breakout session after Hegseth’s speech. “They were basically meant to provoke disturbances, create divisions, instigate confrontation and cause disorder in the Asia Pacific.”

“We should enhance mutual trust through candid exchanges,” Hu said. “We must seek common ground and resolve differences.”

Despite Hegseth’s tough comments, it was unclear whether the speech would be enough to reassure anxious partners, particularly as the Trump administration has proposed stiff tariffs across the region and its movement of some military equipment out of the region.

“The message of painting China as a security threat is going to receive a mixed reception” in the Asia Pacific, said Dylan Loh, an assistant professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. “Even as countries here want to be reassured of an enduring US presence, not all of them are willing to accept or agree with Washington’s threat perceptions.”

The prospect of an armed conflict with China — whether over Taiwan or the contested shipping lanes of the South China Sea, where Beijing has aggressively asserted illegal territorial claims — has increasingly consumed US military planning. In recent years, China built up the world’s biggest navy — a title once held by the US — and a formidable arsenal of missiles aimed at making swathes of the Pacific off-limits to its adversaries.

Meanwhile, Taiwan is racing to overhaul its military in preparation for what it sees as a potential invasion by China. Beijing has intensified its military exercises around the island, including by staging simulated blockades that Taiwan and the US both say could turn without notice into an actual attack — an event that would trigger a global crisis.

Nonetheless, Hegseth’s presence at the Shangri-La Dialogue will offer some comfort to governments seeking signals of continuity in US policy toward the Indo-Pacific region, notwithstanding the lack of details, Loh said.

China, which had sent its defence minister to the last four editions of the Shangri-La Dialogue, downgraded the level of its representation this year by sending a senior military academic — a one-star rear admiral — to lead its delegation, the lowest-ranking chief delegate from China in nearly two decades.

Hegseth, during his speech, appeared to note the Chinese defence minister’s absence, saying the US was at the dialogue while “somebody else isn’t.”

Zhou Bo, a senior fellow at Beijing’s Tsinghua University and a retired senior colonel in the Chinese military, said that China traditionally hasn’t regarded the Shangri-La Dialogue as a particularly important event, as the discussions have tended to be negative toward Beijing. China instead places more value on its own security conference — the Xiangshan Forum — held in Beijing, said Zhou, a member of the Chinese delegation in Singapore.

China on April 1 sent its army, navy, air and rocket forces to surround Taiwan for drills Beijing said were aimed at practising a blockade of the self-ruled island. Picture: Taiwan Coast Guard/AFP

Some analysts say China’s decision to not send its defence minister might be intended to avoid complications that could arise from unscripted and potentially fractious interactions with Western counterparts like Hegseth.

“The political risk to the defence minister himself and to the state outweighs any ‘rewards’ that may be had,” Loh said. While there is a missed opportunity to meet with other top defence officials, “they do not want to go off script or be construed as going off script in what is a sensitive period for US-China relations.”

Despite words of support to Asian allies, Hegseth urged them to spend more on their own defence, pointing out current efforts in Europe to spend more to combat a less formidable threat. “It doesn’t make sense for countries in Europe to do [more on defence] while key allies and partners in Asia spend far less in the face of a far more formidable threat, not to mention North Korea,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth also warned against the economic influence Beijing wields over many Asian countries, whose largest trading partner is often China.

“We know that many countries are tempted by the idea of seeking both economic co-operation with China and defence co-operation with the United States. Now that is a geographic necessity for many,” Hegseth said. “Beware the leverage the [Chinese Communist Party] seeks with that entanglement. Economic dependence on China only deepens their malign influence and complicates our decision space during times of tension.”

Some allies were eager to amplify the US message of support for Asia. Singaporean officials titled a press release after a discussion between the US and Singaporean leadership as “US Secretary of Defence Reaffirms Strong Ties.”

Wall Street Journal