S'pore's annual sale on insecurity, militarisation
COMMENT | Nothing new came out from the Shangri-La security and defence summit held in Singapore recently.
This is not surprising as the event, which is touted as bringing together defence ministers, heads of ministries, and military chiefs of Asia Pacific states, has been a non-achiever since its inception more than 20 years ago.
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Miami Herald
a day ago
- Miami Herald
US Ally Sends Strong Warning to China
China's efforts to expand its sphere of influence in its own region and beyond are part of its "political DNA" and a growing number of countries are coalescing against it, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told Newsweek in an interview. Following a tense exchange with Chinese officials at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia's premier defense summit, Teodoro called Beijing "the cause of instability". Newsweek contacted the Chinese Foreign Ministry by email with a request for comment. Teodoro's comments reflect the toughening stance by the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. over China's claims in its exclusive economic zone. China claims up to 90 percent of the South China Sea as its territory, citing what it calls historical rights within its self-declared nine-dash line-a boundary that overlaps with the maritime claims of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and self-ruling Taiwan. Footage released by the Philippines has shown the Chinese coast guard using ramming maneuvers and water cannon attacks that Manila said left Philippine servicemen injured. A Hague-based arbitral tribunal dismissed China's dashed-line claims in a 2016 decision Beijing rejected as invalid. Beijing's agenda is rooted in its leadership structure, Teodoro told Newsweek on Sunday. "That is to extend the sphere of influence of dynastic politics of whatever nature, and it is within their DNA to be that-their political DNA." "The impression of other countries is that of weariness, caution, and not comfort. Even those who engage with them fully do not fully trust China." Still, China remains a major trade partner for some 150 countries, according to Beijing's customs administration-and for most of Southeast Asia-a fact Teodoro acknowledged has likely muted some nations' responses. "But this has got to stop somewhere. And the countries that are standing up are coalescing against China," he said. "And if they [China] do not notice this [...] and spin the narrative as it being to contain their rightful place, then they're just fooling themselves." He expects "more of the same" from Beijing. The Philippines is therefore working to form an international coalition to increase deterrence, he added, likening this to erecting "a strong fence." China's actions in the South China Sea have also been met with strong protests from Washington and several Asian-Pacific and European nations. Adding to tensions are alleged espionage operations near military installations, mass cyberattack campaigns, and unsafe military encounters reported by U.S. allies in international waters. Deterrence of China would take two forms, Teodoro said: "building up capability resilience" and fostering "international resonance that will condemn their activities." During his remarks in a Shangri-La panel on Sunday, Teodoro was challenged by two senior Chinese colonels, who asked whether the Philippines would engage with China on friendly terms or choose to play the part of a U.S. proxy. Teodoro thanked the officials for "propaganda spiels disguised as questions," a barb that drew applause from attendees. He said the "deficit of trust" in China remains the largest obstacle to a solution in the South China Sea, adding that a nation that "represses its own people" is not to be trusted. A breakthrough in the South China Sea dispute remains unlikely, with both China and the Philippines firmly entrenched. The fact that the Philippines is a U.S. treaty ally makes it a potential flashpoint for global conflict at a time of tension between Washington and Beijing on numerous fronts. Related Articles Map Tracks Chinese Aircraft Carrier Near US AlliesChina Says US Violated Trade Truce With Three MovesUS Announces 'Game Changer' Missile Upgrade to Rival ChinaMap Shows China's Arms Sales Footprint Around the World 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Inside Asia's top military summit, where the world's generals and defense ministers meet at the glitzy Shangri-La Hotel
The Shangri-La Dialogue is the top summit in Asia for some of the world's most powerful military leaders. They meet every year at a famed hotel in the heart of Singapore for three days. There, Pete Hegseth accused China of preparing for war, while Beijing sent in a downgraded team. When I arrived early on a Friday morning, the world's men and women of war were already collecting their keycards. For 22 years, the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore has hosted what's become Asia's biggest defense summit, which ran this year from May 30 to June 1. The Shangri-La Dialogue is an annual mass gathering of military leaders, with generals and ministers from 47 countries flooding into the 792-room hotel this year. There, the war chiefs of five continents spent three days in elaborate, carefully choreographed diplomacy. Defense contractors dipped in and out of conference rooms on the sidelines, hoping to catch customers amid the flurry of closed-door bilateral meetings. Security outside was simple but tight. One road leads into the Shangri-La, and one road leads out. Pairs of assault rifle-wielding men stood watchfully at checkpoints on every street corner. But inside the building, security was surprisingly low-key. A freely accessible mezzanine opened up to a sprawling lobby where suits and one-stars mingled. In the lounge, sunlight spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows as ministers held court. There were no checkpoints at the hotel's entrance, where regular guests were still allowed to enter. Several asked me for directions as they wandered by with flip-flops and shopping bags. A few feet from where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with the Thai delegation on Friday, two people were playing tennis. "This would never happen in D.C.," an American reporter who flew in with the Pentagon press corps told me. Past the metal detectors, generals and chiefs filed into meetings in the half-dozen or so private rooms upstairs. The Dialogue, bringing together leaders from Europe and Asia, is a rare chance for many to talk face-to-face. Reuben Johnson, a defense journalist who's covered the event for 13 years, said attendance is a major sign of legitimacy on this side of the world. "If you're not here, then you're left out of the game," he said. It all comes together in the Shangri-La's Island ballroom, which requires a security check to enter. There, heads of state and top ministers addressed crowds of the military elite. French President Emmanuel Macron opened the event, but the entire hotel was itching to hear what Hegseth, who announced his arrival days before, had to say. "No one really knows what to expect," one staffer from a European embassy said of Hegseth, as we waited among a sea of delegates holding wine glasses in the foyer. The speech was a chance for the second Trump administration, and a new face like Hegseth, to lay bare their intentions for the Asia Pacific, a region still reeling from some of the White House's steepest tariffs. Hegseth's slot was on Saturday morning. In the first few sessions, the ballroom was so packed that staffers, colonels, and majors were stuck outside watching giant displays while their bosses sat within. Some filtered into nearby viewing rooms, where aides scribbled furiously on notebooks and whispered to each other. Hegseth spent much of his 35-minute address praising President Donald Trump and slamming Beijing, naming China over two dozen times. "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 told the audience. Beijing was given an opening to strike back during a Q&A, but it threw a soft punch, asking Hegseth a rhetorical question about regional alliances. When a Malaysian delegate quizzed Hegseth about the tariffs, the latter said he was in the "business of tanks, not trade." After answering a few more questions, the secretary left the stage unscathed. Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told me in the lobby that he felt Hegseth handled his talk "generally well." "I think the bar was very low, and I think Hegseth passed. People expected him to come in with a fairly nationalistic speech, and he did that, but I think people also expected him to struggle in the Q&A session," he said. A day before the forum opened, Beijing announced that, unlike previous years, its defense minister, Dong Jun, would not attend. Instead, a delegation from its military academy, led by Rear Adm. Hu Gangfeng, arrived at the hotel. It was a major snub. A central part of the Dialogue is the chance to see the US and China face off in front of the military world's top dogs. Susannah Patton, the director of the Southeast Asia Program from Adelaide's Lowy Institute, described it to me as "gladiatorial." "It's an opportunity missed," said Andrew Yang, a former national defense minister for Taiwan. With Dong not showing up, the Dialogue's organizers discreetly deleted Beijing's plenary from the schedule. Hu instead spoke at a smaller panel just before dinner on Saturday. Most of Beijing's defense was left to scholars at the event. "China's forces have always been strengthening quickly, that is a fact," Da Wei, the director of Tsinghua University's Center for International Security and Strategy, said of Hegseth's accusation that China's military build-up signaled an intention for war. The Chinese foreign ministry released a statement at midnight condemning Hegseth's speech. "The remarks were filled with provocations and intended to sow division," it said. Though attendees waited for a potential US-China clash, the weekend's dramatic moment came after Hegseth flew home. The Philippine defense chief, Gilberto Teodoro, was speaking at Sunday morning's plenary when he fielded barbed questions from two Chinese senior colonels. The officers had publicly suggested that the Philippines could become, or already was, an American proxy state. "If the proxy war in Europe needs to be ended, are you concerned that a proxy war in Asia might be launched?" Zhang asked. Distracted aides looked up from their phones. China was taking a swing. Teodoro dropped the diplomacy in his answer. "Thank you for the propaganda spiels disguised as questions," he said. The ballroom laughed and applauded. It was a rare moment of frankness amid the slow waltz of the last two days, where everyone, from lieutenant to minister, had danced around each other to the tune of defense-speak alliance acronyms and diplomatic buzzwords. By early Sunday afternoon, when the Dialogue closed, many of the senior ministers and CEOs had already departed the Shangri-La for their next big appointment. Aides and officers traded their suits and dress uniforms for cargo shorts and sandals, speeding off in cabs to explore the city. There was an air of disappointment among some of the journalists and analysts emptying out of the Shang. Dong's absence and the lack of a Chinese meeting with Hegseth, they said, had robbed much of the wind from the Dialogue's sails. Johnson, the veteran defense journalist, wrote me a message before his flight back to Warsaw, telling me about what had changed in the last 13 years. He remembered the late Sen. John McCain, whom he said would attend the Dialogue and hold impromptu press conferences, speaking candidly to reporters about big-ticket issues like Teodoro had on Sunday morning. At the forum, Johnson said, no one had stepped in to fill McCain's shoes. "His presence is sorely missed and even more sorely needed in these times," Johnson said. Read the original article on Business Insider
Malaysiakini
a day ago
- Malaysiakini
S'pore's annual sale on insecurity, militarisation
COMMENT | Nothing new came out from the Shangri-La security and defence summit held in Singapore recently. This is not surprising as the event, which is touted as bringing together defence ministers, heads of ministries, and military chiefs of Asia Pacific states, has been a non-achiever since its inception more than 20 years ago.
