US calls for Asia allies to boost defenses in face of China’s ‘imminent’ threat, Hegseth tells top defense forum
Singapore CNN —
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday delivered a dire warning to the Asia-Pacific region and the world: China’s designs on Taiwan pose a threat to global peace and stability that requires “our allies and partners do their part on defense.”
“There is no reason to sugarcoat it. The threat China poses is real. And it could be imminent,” Hegseth said in a speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier defense forum, in Singapore.
“Beijing is credibly preparing potentially to use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific,” with People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces training daily to take military action against Taiwan, Hegseth said.
He noted that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ordered his military to be prepared by 2027 to invade Taiwan, the democratic island of 23 million people that the Chinese Communist Party claims as its sovereign territory despite having never ruled it.
“The PLA is building the military needed to do it, training for it every day and rehearsing for the real deal,” Hegseth said, delivering some of his strongest comments against China since he took office in January.
China criticized the comments on Sunday. In a statement, Beijing’s foreign ministry said Hegseth had “vilified” the country with “defamatory allegations.”
“The remarks were filled with provocations and intended to sow division,” the foreign ministry said, accusing the US of deliberately ignoring calls for peace from regional nations.
In his remarks Saturday, Hegseth said US President Donald Trump has pledged not to let Taiwan fall to China on his watch, and he called on US allies and partners in the region to band together to stand up to Beijing, both on the Taiwan issue and other regional disputes where China aggressively pursues its agenda, such as in the South China Sea.
Attendees outside the ballroom watch on a screen as US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivers an address at the Shangri-La Dialogue Summit in Singapore on May 31, 2025.
Mohd Rasfan/AFP/Getty Images
“China’s behavior towards its neighbors and the world is a wake-up call. And an urgent one,” the US defense chief said.
But he said the US cannot deter the Chinese threat alone, calling on other nations to be “force multipliers” against Beijing.
“We ask – and indeed, we insist – that our allies and partners do their part on defense,” he said.
Hegseth urged Asian countries to increase their defense spending, pointing to NATO allies who have boosted it to 5% of gross domestic product.
“So it doesn’t make sense for countries in Europe to do that while key allies in Asia spend less on defense in the face of an even more formidable threat, not to mention North Korea,” he said.
While Hegseth made clear that Washington does not seek conflict with China, he stressed the Trump administration would not let aggression from Beijing stand.
“We will not be pushed out of this critical region, and we will not let our allies be subordinated and intimidated,” he said.
Hegseth’s speech adds to heated tensions between Washington and Beijing.
China has railed against America’s efforts in recent years to tighten its alliances and stiffen its defense posture in Asia, while economic frictions rose to historic levels earlier this year after Trump imposed tariffs on China, sparking a tit-for-tat between the two countries that saw duties rise to more than 100% on each other’s goods.
The annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore has in the past been a place where defense leaders from the US and China can meet on the sidelines and foster at least a minimal dialogue between the two foes.
No such meeting is expected to take place this year. China announced on Thursday that it would send only a low-level delegation from its National Defense University to Shangri-La, rather than its defense minister, who has spoken at the past five forums.
When the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which sponsors the event, belatedly released a speakers list for the forum on Friday afternoon, the usual 8:30 a.m. time slot for a Chinese representative to speak was scrubbed from the agenda.
At a Chinese Defense Ministry press conference on Thursday, a spokesperson ducked a question on why Beijing was not sending its defense minister to the forum.
China was “open to communication at all levels between the two sides,” a ministry spokesperson said, when asked about a potential sidelines meeting with the US delegation.
Hegseth’s call for allied cooperation in deterring China is a carryover from the Biden administration, but the Trump administration seems more strident than its predecessor.
Ahead of the Singapore conference, there was broad consensus among analysts that unlike the turmoil Trump has caused in Europe – with threats to pull back from NATO and abandon Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion – the US role in Asia has largely been consistent, centered on a policy to counter Chinese influence and back Taiwan.
Analysts noted that US-led military exercises, especially those involving key allies Japan, Australia, the Philippines and South Korea, have continued or even been bolstered in 2025.
Source: CNN
South Korea is voting for a new president after six months of political chaos. Here’s what to know
Seoul, South Korea CNN —
After half a year of political turmoil, uncertainty and division, South Korea will vote for a new president to succeed Yoon Suk Yeol, the disgraced former leader who plunged the democratic nation into chaos by declaring martial law in December.
This election feels particularly significant; the country, a US ally and Asian economic and cultural powerhouse, has floundered for months with a revolving door of interim leaders while navigating Yoon’s impeachment trial and a multipronged investigation into the fateful night of his short-lived power grab.
All the while, South Korea’s economy has suffered, with US President Donald Trump’s trade war and a potential global recession looming in the background. Two men are each promising to help the country recover if elected – a lawyer turned politician dogged by legal cases who survived an assassination attempt, and a former anti-establishment activist turned conservative minister.
Polls open on Tuesday morning and a winner could be declared by Wednesday.
Here’s what you need to know.
Who are the main candidates?
Lee Jae-myung, presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, speaks while campaigning in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Lee Jin-man/AP
The frontrunner is Lee Jae-myung, 60, of the liberal opposition Democratic Party.
A former underage factory worker from a poor family, Lee became a human rights lawyer before entering politics. He is a former mayor and governor, and most recently served as a lawmaker after narrowly losing to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election.
He survived an assassination attempt in January 2024 when a man stabbed him in the neck during a public event.
He again made headlines on December 3, 2024 – the night Yoon declared martial law and sent troops to parliament. Lee was among the lawmakers who rushed to the legislature and pushed past soldiers to hold an emergency vote to lift martial law. He live streamed himself jumping over a fence to enter the building, in a viral video viewed tens of millions of times.
On the campaign trail, Lee promised political and economic reforms, including more controls on a president’s ability to declare martial law, and revising the constitution to allow two four-year presidential terms instead of the current single five-year term.
South Korea”s former President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers a speech to declare martial law in Seoul on December 3, 2024.
The Presidential Office/Reuters
Soldiers try to enter the legislature in Seoul after the martial law decree on December 4, 2024.
Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty Images
He has emphasized easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula while holding on to the longtime goal of denuclearizing North Korea; he also supports boosting small businesses and growing the AI industry.
But Lee has also been dogged by legal cases, including several ongoing trials for alleged bribery and charges related to a property development scandal.
Separately, he was convicted of violating election law in another ongoing case that has been sent to an appeals court.
Lee denies all the charges against him. Speaking to CNN in December, he claimed he had been indicted on various charges “without any evidence or basis,” and that the allegations are politically motivated.
Lee’s main rival is Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party (PPP).
The People Power Party”s presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo at an election campaign event in Goyang, South Korea, on May 21, 2025.
Lee Jin-man/AP
When Yoon left the party in May, he urged supporters to back Kim – a 73-year-old former labor minister, who had been a prominent labor activist at university, even being expelled and imprisoned for his protests. He eventually joined a conservative party, and stepped into the nomination after several rounds of party infighting.
The PPP initially selected Kim as its candidate; then dropped him, eyeing former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo instead. The party finally chose Kim after he filed legal challenges.
But the PPP remains deeply divided and its candidate trailed Lee in pre-election polling. In a statement after his nomination, Kim vowed to seek unity and build a “big tent” coalition to take on Lee, according to Reuters.
Kim has also promised to reform the country’s politics, judiciary and election management systems to rebuild public trust. His campaign emphasized making South Korea business-friendly through tax cuts and eased restrictions, and by promoting new technologies and nuclear energy.
Several third-party and independent candidates are also running for the presidency. They include Lee Jun-seok, a former PPP leader who founded his own conservative New Reform Party last year.
What are the issues on the table?
At the forefront of voters’ minds is the country’s flailing economy and rising cost of living. Youth unemployment has surged and consumption has declined, with the economy unexpectedly contracting in the first quarter of this year.
Part of that is due to Trump’s trade war – which has hit South Korea’s export-reliant economy hard. South Korea’s exports to the US fell sharply in the first few weeks of April after US tariffs kicked in, and the nation’s largest airline has warned the downturn could cost it up to $100 million a year.
Though officials from both nations have met for tariff talks, the political turmoil at home is likely slowing progress and hampering a possible trade deal until a new South Korean president is elected.
Vehicles produced by South Korean automaker Kia Motors are waiting to be shipped at the Port of Pyeongtaek on April 3, 2025.
Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
That’s why both main candidates have focused on the economy, promising to stabilize the cost of goods and improve opportunities in housing, education and jobs.
But there’s a host of other problems the next president will have to tackle, too – such as the country’s rapidly aging society and plummeting birth rates, which represent an urgent demographic crisis also seen in other countries in the region like Japan and China. Among the common complaints of young couples and singles are the high cost of childcare, gender inequality and discrimination against working parents.
Then there are regional tensions. There’s the ever-present threat from North Korea, which has rapidly modernized its armed forces, developing new weapons and testing intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach almost anywhere in the United States. Experts have warned in recent years that the country may also be preparing to resume nuclear tests, which it paused in 2018.
Across the Yellow Sea lies China, which South Korea has a strong trade relationship with – but historically fraught diplomatic relations.
South Korea also maintains a close security alliance with the US, and hosts nearly 30,000 American troops in the country. In recent years, South Korea, Japan and the US have drawn closer together, working to counter Chinese influence in the strategically important Asia-Pacific region.
What happened to Yoon?
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol (center) arrives at the Seoul Central District Court for a criminal hearing in Seoul, South Korea, on May 19, 2025.
Chris Jung/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Yoon was removed from office in April following months of legal wrangling, after parliament voted to impeach him late last year.
It was a remarkable fall from grace for the former prosecutor turned politician, who rose to prominence for his role in the impeachment of another president – only to eventually meet the same fate.
Soon after, Yoon moved out from the presidential residency and into an apartment in the capital Seoul. But his legal battles are ongoing; he faces charges including insurrection, an offense punishable by life imprisonment or death (though South Korea has not executed anyone in decades). Yoon denies all charges against him.
CNN’s Yoonjung Seo and Gawon Bae contributed to this report.
Source: CNN