Pete Hegseth, the self-styled “Secretary of War,” delivered his speech to the Shangri La Dialogue conference in Singapore on Saturday. He pumped up his “America First Peace Through Strength” mantra but tempered it a bit on China. He never mentioned Taiwan once and addressed the importance of military-to-military dialogue, but he still spoke of “deterrence"–really meaning containment–against alleged Chinese aggression.
“When we look across the region today, there is rightful alarm regarding China’s historic military buildup and the expansion of its military activities in the region and beyond,” he said. “We share a clear-eyed assessment of that security environment and a mutual understanding that a Pacific dominated by any hegemon (unless of course that hegemon is the United States–ed.) would unravel the regional balance of power and undermine the equilibrium we all seek to preserve.”
“Any potential opponent will be forced to judge us by our hard power, collective readiness, and steadfast resolve,” he added later. “As the National Security Strategy and the National Defense Strategy direct, our approach in the Pacific centers on deterrence by denial along the First Island Chain.”
