Pete Hegseth Talked a Big Game to Indo-Pacific Allies—but Trump Mistrust Runs Deep

Against the backdrop of U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance’s jaw-dropping polemic against European democracies at February’s Munich Security Conference, this was a welcome return to sense, if not sanity.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a powerful though measured speech at Singapore’s IISS Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday, pointedly calling out “Communist China” for its “massive military build-up, … grey zone tactics, and hybrid warfare,” while also hailing the strength and importance of America’s regional alliances and using the word “peace” 27 times.

“President Trump is a leader of peace, a man of peace, a force for peace,” Hegseth told the scores of Asia-Pacific defense and military chiefs crammed into the ballroom at Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel. “And together, we will achieve that peace through strength.”

Hegseth repeatedly called the Indo-Pacific “our priority theater” and, in a marked departure from Vance, actually praised European nations for hiking defense spending as an example that their Asian counterparts should emulate. “It was quite surprising that he used Europe as a reference in terms of GDP [defense] spending,” Micael Johansson, president and CEO of the Swedish arms manufacturer Saab, told TIME. “But it was a good speech and more collaborative than I had expected.”

As Hegseth described it, American defense policy was now that Europe’s security would be left to Europeans, while the U.S. was focusing its rebuilt military might—augmented by a $1 trillion defense spend next year, a 13% year-on-year rise—on the Indo-Pacific. This would focus on boosting America’s forward force deployment, helping allies and partners strengthen their security capabilities, and rebuilding defense industrial bases including within friendly nations.

“A strong, resolute, and capable network of allies and partners is our key strategic advantage,” said Hegseth.

Hegseth also unleashed several broadsides against China, accusing strongman President Xi Jinping of having “ordered his military to be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027,” with the former Fox News anchor warning that an assault on the self-ruling island—which politically split from the mainland following China’s 1945–49 civil war—“could be imminent.”

These remarks drew the inevitable rebuke from Beijing, which issued a statement saying Hegseth “vilified China with defamatory allegations” that were “filled with provocations and intended to sow discord.” Beijing also warned that Washington “must never play with fire on [the Taiwan] question,” which is “entirely China’s internal affair.”

Notably, China’s defense minister stayed away from the annual security summit for the first time since 2019. Admiral Dong Jun was rumored to have been under a corruption investigation amid a sweeping purge of high-ranking PLA officers, though latest reports suggest that he’s been cleared.

The Chinese delegation that did attend treated Hegseth’s accusations with scorn. “He used a very strong, harsh tone, which surprised me a little, and it’s unconstructive and hypocritical,” says Prof. Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS) at Beijing’s Tsinghua University. “Because the U.S. is imposing high tariffs on regional countries, so how can you expect them to partner with you against another economic power?”

Indeed, Trump’s internecine global trade war was the glaring elephant in the room. Asked about the “reciprocal tariffs” imposed in April, Hegseth joked: “I am happily in the business of tanks, not trade, and I will leave that discussion to the man who knows how to do it best.”

Which was the ultimate takeaway for the brass hats present. Hegseth’s statement of commitment to the region and working with allies was broadly welcomed but hedged by the chaotic approach of the guy he reports to. Indeed, Hegseth showed his hand when he admitted: “My job is to create and maintain decision space for President Trump, not to purport to make decisions on his behalf.”

Delegates in Singapore were only too aware that today, more than during any other U.S. administration, power rests with just one man, whose constant policy flip-flops—embarrassing Zelensky before lambasting Putin; ripping up one Iranian nuclear deal before seeking another; hiking and pausing tariffs—have conjured a bevy of TACO, “or Trump always chickens out,” memes as well as the impression that American words have never been cheaper.

“I’m quite sure it’s just talk,” one European delegate said of Hegseth’s speech. A Bangladeshi military officer agreed: “It still feels like Trump is a more inward-looking than global President.”