China blasts Hegseth as defence minister avoids Singapore forum
It added that the US “must never play with fire” regarding Taiwan, after Hegseth warned that conflict over the island “could be imminent”
[BEIJING] China lodged a protest over Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s speech at a defence forum in Singapore on Saturday, even as Beijing chose not to send its top military diplomat to the annual event.
Hegseth chided China during the Shangri-La Dialogue, noting how the nation didn’t send a high-profile representative to the gathering. It was the first time Beijing hasn’t sent a defence minister to the forum since 2019, depriving China from conducting diplomacy with top military officials from around the globe and pushing its vision for regional security.
In a statement on Sunday (Jun 1) responding to Hegseth’s speech, China’s Foreign Ministry called the US “the true hegemonic country in the world and the primary factor that undermines peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region”. It added that the US “must never play with fire” regarding Taiwan, after Hegseth warned that conflict over the island “could be imminent”.
Departing from tradition, this year’s Sunday programming didn’t begin with a session focused on China, which is typically when the nation’s chief military diplomat rebuts any accusations floated by speakers from the US and other allied nations the day before. The only session featuring a Chinese delegate this year saw him sidestep questions on the absence of Defence Minister Dong Jun, who attended a year ago.
“Every time we send the delegation on different levels – this is completely a normal work arrangement,” Rear Admiral Hu Gangfeng, vice-president of the National Defense University, said at a panel on Saturday. “It’ll not affect our explanation of our national defence policies, ideas and communication with others or enhancing mutual trust.”
In an X thread on Sunday, Chinese envoy to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong slammed Hegseth’s remark a day earlier on Taiwan.
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“If this is not sabre-rattling or fearmongering, then nothing is,” Wang wrote. “It will be a stretch of imagination to think that many, if any at all, in the region would buy that unfounded, self-centric and delusional rhetoric,” he added.
The Chinese Embassy in Singapore has posted twice on Facebook since the start of the forum. It hit back at French President Emmanuel Macron’s remarks that the global response to Russia’s war in Ukraine should inform how the world might react to a Taiwan invasion, rejecting the comparison as “unacceptable”.
It also criticised Hegseth’s speech for labelling China as an imminent threat.
“Mr Hegseth repeatedly smeared and attacked China and relentlessly played up the so-called ‘China threat’,” the embassy wrote. “As a matter of fact, the US itself is the biggest ‘troublemaker’ for regional peace and stability.”
China’s embassy in Singapore rarely comments publicly on the Shangri-La Dialogue, usually staying behind the scenes to coordinate with the visiting Chinese delegation.
Chinese military delegates were still active in asking questions in sessions. Senior Colonel Zhang Chi, an associate professor at the National Defence University, asked Hegseth about how the US would choose between allies and Asean when its multilateral frameworks do not include South-east Asian countries.
But outside of sessions, they stayed mum. It’s a contrast to last year, when China held a record number of press briefings and its university delegates had roundtable discussions with the media.
Beijing hasn’t officially explained why it downgraded its representation at this year’s event. However, signs of frustration surfaced during a session on Sunday.
Senior Colonel Lu Yin, a professor at the PLA’s National Defense University, attempted to ask a question at the forum but noted beforehand that her query about cooperation didn’t seem to fit the atmosphere of the Shangri-La Dialogue. “It seems that labelling China, blaming China, verbally attacking China, are politically right here,” she added.
Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University, said it wasn’t ideal for China to miss an opportunity to send a defence minister to the forum and have exchanges with other countries. Given that Dong has travelled to the region and Europe before, he said, “this loss is probably not that huge”.
Singapore’s Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing also described it as a missed opportunity for China.
“If China perceives that the world does not respect China sufficiently, or do not understand China sufficiently, then it is incumbent upon China to use every opportunity possible, including the Shangri-La Dialogue, to get its voice heard, to make clear a stance, and to help others to understand why it’s doing what it is doing,” Chan said on Sunday.
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