China’s government has accused Pete Hegseth of trying to “sow division” in the Asia Pacific region over his speech at a Singapore defence conference where he warned China was a potentially “imminent” threat. On Saturday Hegseth said China was “credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific”, and was rehearsing for “the real deal” of invading Taiwan. “There’s no reason to sugar coat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent,” the US defence secretary said in a…
Tag: Pete Hegseth
‘We’ll determine our defence policy’: Albanese responds to US push for huge rise in spending as it stokes China fears
Anthony Albanese has responded to the United States’ calls for a huge rise in defence spending amid fears about China, while hitting back at Donald Trump’s move to double tariffs on steel and aluminium. On Saturday Pete Hegseth urged US allies in the region, including Australia, to “share the burden” and lift defence spending to 5% of GDP, warning that “Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific”. “There’s no reason to sugar coat it,” he said. “The threat China…
Trump orders funding cut for public broadcasters NPR and PBS in fresh attack on media – US politics live
<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" priority="feature" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"6814916e8f08ca8905803afe","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Beijing is “evaluating” an offer from Washington to hold talks over US president Donald Trump’s 145% tariffs, China’s commerce ministry said on Friday, although it warned the United States not to engage in “extortion and coercion.” ","elementId":"1fbe82d7-6e3d-49bc-8eb8-9aa091ed7855"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Washington and Beijing have been locked in a cat-and-mouse game over tariffs, with both sides unwilling to be seen to back down in a trade war that has roiled global markets and upended supply chains, Reuters reported. ","elementId":"8068f6d5-1a20-49b4-afab-63aec0225310"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" The commerce ministry said the United States has approached China…
Trump tells interviewer Crimea ‘will stay with Russia’ in any Ukraine peace deal – live
From 26m ago Trump: Crimea ‘will stay with Russia’ – report Donald Trump has said in an interview with Time magazine that Crimea “will stay with Russia” as part of peace negotiations with Ukraine. Trump accused Zelenskyy on Wednesday of prolonging the “killing field” by refusing to surrender the Russia-occupied Crimea peninsula as part of a possible deal. Russia illegally annexed that area in 2014. Zelenskyy has repeated many times during the war that recognizing occupied territory as Russian is a red line for his country. Share Updated at 07.40 EDT…
Trump news at a glance: president will be ‘very nice’ to China; Musk to step back from Doge
Donald Trump has said tariffs on goods from China will be reduced “substantially” but “won’t be zero”, after US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said he expects a “de-escalation” in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Trump placed import taxes of 145% on China, which countered with 125% tariffs on US goods, causing volatility in the stock market and concern about slowing global economic growth. But the US president on Tuesday said he would be “very nice” to China and not play hardball with Chinese President Xi Jinping.…