Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang warned on June 1, in response to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s wildly provocative speech in Singapore on May 31 at the Shangri-La Dialogue, that the U.S. is accustomed to creating disputes, inciting confrontation, and pursuing selfish interests. “The remarks made by the U.S. defense secretary were filled with deeply ingrained hegemonic logic, bullying behavior, and Cold War mentality,” Zhang said, reported the Global Times. They seriously provoke China’s sovereignty and interests, distort China’s policy positions, and grossly disregard the joint efforts of regional countries to maintain prosperity and stability, he said. This stance of the U.S. is in serious deviation from the common aspiration of countries around the world for peace and development. “We express strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to this.”
Zhang stated that the U.S.’s actions are evident to the international community. “Driven by selfish interests, the U.S. has initiated tariff and trade wars, imposing exorbitant levies globally. It has formed exclusionary cliques and engaged in bloc confrontations, raising deep concerns among various countries,” said Zhang. “It has strengthened military deployments in the Asia-Pacific region, grossly intervened in the internal affairs of other countries, and incited tensions. The facts repeatedly prove that the U.S. is going against the tide of the times and acting unilaterally, which will only backfire on the U.S. itself.”
