Hegseth to face questions on U.S. commitment at top Asian defense conference

Japan Times

28-05-2025

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will make his second visit to Asia later this week for a key regional security conference in Singapore, the Pentagon has announced, where he is expected to reiterate the Trump administration's commitment to the region despite growing anxiety over Washington's tariff program and uncertainties about defense policy.
Hegseth will join defense ministers, top military brass, security officials and diplomats from across the globe at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, which runs from Friday to Sunday, according to the U.S. Defense Department.
The forum, which will feature French President Emanuel Macron as the keynote speaker this year, is often punctuated by speeches and, at times, fiery back-and-forths rarely seen in public. This year is unlikely to prove different.
Held as tensions continue to surge in the U.S.-China rivalry, the conference will feature separate speeches by Hegseth and a representative from the Chinese government. China's defense chief, however, is not expected to attend the event, the Financial Times reported earlier this month. A lower-level official will likely attend in Defense Minister Dong Jun's place.
While a representative from China is expected to deliver a speech, it's unclear how much weight any retort by Beijing might carry if Dong is not the one doing the speaking. His absence would be a departure from recent precedent, which has seen the country's defense chief in attendance for a number of years.
Dong's possible absence would come as Chinese leader Xi Jinping has continued to purge high-level officers from the Central Military Commission, the country's highest-level military command body. Dong was reportedly investigated over alleged corruption last year but cleared.
Observers say it is unclear what Dong's potential absence could mean.
'It could be a matter of domestic politics, given Xi's ongoing purge of the senior ranks of the military. It could be to signal that Beijing does not believe there is not much point to further engagement with Hegseth. It could also be that Beijing has decided that the Shangri-La Dialogue is a less important platform for it to lay out its position as compared to say, the Xiangshan Forum,' said Ian Chong, a professor at the National University of Singapore and expert on Chinese security issues, referring to China's biggest annual show of military diplomacy.
Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun attends the Beijing Xiangshan Forum last September. |
REUTERS
The Pentagon said in a statement Tuesday that the trip 'comes as the Department of Defense continues to strengthen U.S. relationships with allies and partners in support of a shared regional vision for peace, stability, and deterrence.'
Hegseth is set to meet with Singapore's prime minister and other senior officials from the county, convene a multilateral meeting of his counterparts from Southeast Asia, and participate in 'several trilateral and multilateral meetings' with his counterparts 'from several Asian countries,' according to the Pentagon.
Although specific details have yet to be released, the Pentagon chief is also expected to meet with his counterparts from U.S. allies, including Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani.
A meeting between the defense chiefs of Japan, Australia, the U.S. and the Philippines — the first under the second Trump White House — may also be on the agenda. The countries' four defense chiefs last met in Hawaii in May 2024 for talks widely seen as intended to strengthen multilateral cooperation to counter China.
China's military modernization, as well as its moves in the East and South China Seas — and near democratic Taiwan — are just some of the issues involving Beijing that Hegseth is expected to broach on Saturday.
At the 2024 event, then-U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hailed Washington's deepening network of security partnerships as defining a 'new era of security' in the Indo-Pacific, while Dong used his speech to denounce the formation of 'exclusive military alliances' and attempts to create 'bloc confrontation' to rein in China.
In his speech, Austin also attempted to reassure U.S. security allies and partners of Washington's focus on the Indo-Pacific amid the still-raging conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.
Hegseth will look to follow suit and ameliorate concerns that the Trump administration's seemingly chaotic policies will dampen Washington's resolve to defend its interests in the region — and by extension those of its allies.
But experts say Hegseth, who has retained Trump's approval despite grappling with multiple scandals — will have his work cut out for him.
'Trump's across-the-board tariffs are likely to make regional actors more skeptical of U.S. assertions of commitment, since they suggest that the Trump administration is less interested in good faith cooperation,' Chong said. 'Even if audiences are able to separate economic and security considerations, the apparent turmoil in Washington — including at the U.S. Department of Defense — may make them wonder about the U.S. ability to back up its commitments going forward.'