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Enoch Wong

US defence chief Pete Hegseth’s remarks on China suggest he is doubling down on Donald Trump’s push for allies to take a bigger share of the burden when it comes to security, according to analysts.
They also said domestic issues could be driving a shift in focus away from the Indo-Pacific.
The new secretary of defence was speaking at his first town hall meeting of the Pentagon workforce in Arlington, Virginia last Friday.
During a question-and-answer session with troops and staff, Hegseth was asked about the deterrence strategy, particularly in the context of China’s “grey zone” activities, according to a transcript released by the Department of Defence.
He said the Pentagon was “not attempting to initiate conflict or create conflict where it otherwise doesn’t need to exist”.
He also pledged to “stand strong with our partners”, but emphasised that “part of ‘America first’ is empowering allies and partners to be combat multipliers, to add to the capabilities that we have” through mechanisms like defence partnerships and foreign military sales.

Hegseth said the US considered the “aspirations of the CCP”, China’s ruling Communist Party, to be real and that they could drive a “decision point” on issues like Taiwan and that “dollars drive a lot of those decisions”.
He said there would be “more burden sharing from allies … who also need to be prepared to step up”.
Hegseth also sought to explain the move to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the military, claiming that “the single dumbest phrase in military history is ‘our diversity is our strength’”.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul, said the comments suggested that – instead of focusing on the Indo-Pacific – “Hegseth’s early priorities are domestic, even cultural”.
“The political methodology is Trumpian: reverse so-called wokeism, cut waste and free-riding, and elevate a fighting ethos over bureaucratic process,” he said.
While Hegseth did reference Taiwan and working with allies during Friday’s meeting, it was framed within the “America first” context, Easley said, adding that to achieve peace through strength would take more than that.
“The United States will have to strategically bolster and leverage international partners and the rules-based order,” he said.
According to Simon Goldstein, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong, Hegseth’s remarks signal an “open-minded approach to bargaining”.
He said the Pentagon could be looking for opportunities to “work out mutually beneficial deals and attempt to de-escalate the kind of conflict that inflicts costs on both parties”.
Goldstein, whose research includes the bargaining model of war, said that compared to the previous Joe Biden administration, Trump’s team could be seeking “a wider range of bargains across a wider range of players”.
“This may be a unique window of opportunity for China and the US to pursue a relationship reset,” he said.

But Raymond Powell, a retired US Air Force colonel and director of the maritime transparency project SeaLight at Stanford University, said US efforts to address the “China threat” were likely to continue.
Powell said the new defence chief’s first overseas trips – including visits to the US European Command and US Africa Command – were attempts to “draw down US commitments in other theatres in order to meet the China threat in the Indo-Pacific” because many of its allies had been “relying on US assistance rather than investing in their own security”.
Tom Corben, a foreign policy and defence programme research fellow at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, also noted Hegseth’s emphasis on the need for US allies to do more.
“Whereas Biden officials tended to emphasise the benefits of cooperation as a means to better empower their allies to support shared goals, Trump officials have been unapologetic in demanding that capable allies contribute more to collective security,” Corben said.


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News

China

Military

New secretary of defence is pushing for allies to do more on security, while focus may be shifting from Indo-Pacific, according to analysts


New secretary of defence is pushing for allies to do more on security, while focus may be shifting from Indo-Pacific, according to analysts.


Taiwan