US's Hegseth accused of 'vilifying' remarks

CHINA has protested to the US over "vilifying" remarks made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the foreign ministry said yesterday, while accusing it of deliberately ignoring calls for peace from regional nations.

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China has objected to Hegseth calling it a threat in the Indo-Pacific, the ministry added, describing his comments at the Shangri-La Dialogue - Asia's premier forum for defence leaders, military officials and diplomats - in Singapore on Saturday as “deplorable” and “intended to sow division”.

“Hegseth deliberately ignored the call for peace and development by countries in the region, and instead touted the Cold War mentality for bloc confrontation, vilified China with defamatory allegations, and falsely called China a ‘threat,” the ministry said on its website.

“The United States has deployed offensive weaponry in the South China Sea and kept stoking flames and creating tensions in the Asia-Pacific, which are turning the region into a powder keg,” the ministry added in the statement.

The Shangri-La Dialogue security meeting in Singapore has long been marked by US-China rivalry but the meeting at the weekend exposed a new fault line - tensions between the US and Europe over Asia. European delegates bristled at US proposals and India-Pakistan hostility was on show.

Even as he warned in a speech that China posed an “imminent threat”, Hegseth made clear he wanted Europeans to concentrate on European security as they boosted military budgets.