Pete Hegseth
Pete Hegseth
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth used his first trip to Asia to try to reassure allies that the US was committed to deterring Chinese “threats” to the region, while also again defending his recent actions in disclosing American battle plans in a group chat.
Speaking at a news conference in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, on Friday, Hegseth said that the Trump administration would “truly prioritise and shift to this region of the world in a way that is unprecedented”.
“Today, it’s the Philippines. Tomorrow, it’s Japan. It will be Australia and South Korea and other nations in this part of the world,” he said, where, together, “we will establish the deterrence necessary to prevent war”.
The Philippines was the first stop of Hegseth’s tour of Asia, which will also include Japan; both countries have mutual defence treaties with the US. But they and others in the region have been anxiously watching President Trump call into question the United States’ decades-old alliances in North America and Europe.
The Philippines has been involved in increasingly tense standoffs with China in the South China Sea over Beijing’s expansive territorial claims.
On Friday morning, Hegseth met with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., telling him that “deterrence is necessary around the world, but specifically in this region, in your country, considering the threats from the communist Chinese.”