China slams Hegseth speech, accuses US of seeking to use Taiwan issue as ‘leverage’ against Beijing

SINGAPORE: China warned the United States against using Taiwan as “leverage” against Beijing, responding to remarks by the US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Shangri-La Dialogue.

“The US should never imagine it could use the Taiwan question as leverage against China,” said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson in a statement issued early Sunday morning (Jun 1). “The US must never play with fire on this question.”

The statement was a direct response to Hegseth’s speech delivered on Saturday morning at Asia’s premier defence summit in Singapore, in which he warned that China was “credibly preparing” to use military force and urged regional allies to increase defence spending.

“The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent,” said Hegseth, who also criticised its actions in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea.

China, in turn, accused the US of escalating tensions and undermining peace in the region.

“No country in the world deserves to be called a hegemonic power other than the US itself,” the foreign ministry said, pointing to American deployments in the South China Sea and its Indo-Pacific strategy as destabilising moves that have turned the region into a “powder keg”.

It also reiterated that the Taiwan issue is purely China’s internal affair, calling on Washington to cease support for “Taiwan independence” forces and fully adhere to the One-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques.

Hegseth’s address marked his first appearance at the Shangri-La Dialogue as defence secretary under the Donald Trump administration.

He warned that any attempt by Beijing to seize Taiwan would have “devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world”, echoing President Donald Trump’s assertion that China would not invade Taiwan “on his watch”.