Speaking on Friday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reiterated the United States’ and our allies’ commitment to “deter aggression by Communist China” in the Indo-Pacific. This is a region of key strategic importance to the United States and China.
. @SecDef “The United States is committed to working with our allies and partners to deter aggression by Communist China in the Indo-Pacific…” pic.twitter.com/I4ScRa30Kj
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) May 31, 2025
Hegseth said:
The United States is committed to working with our allies and partners to deter aggression by Communist China in the Indo-Pacific. And we’re doing this in particular, re-establishing deterrence, through strength, by standing shoulder-to-shoulder with you. We will unite against those who threaten a free and open Indo-Pacific.
That seems a pretty clear statement that the United States is committed to working with “allies and partners.” So, of course, the legacy media is spinning it another way. The Wall Street Journal wrote:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed that there would be “devastating consequences” should China seek to “conquer” Taiwan, in a speech that appeared aimed at easing concerns in Asia over the U.S. commitment to its allies in the region.
In what was his most assertive statement to date on Taiwan, Hegseth issued a stark warning that threats to the island from China “could be imminent.”
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell was quick to reply to the publication:
This headline is intentionally false & highly irresponsible.
Here is what the SECDEF actually said:“Again to be clear, any attempt by Communist China to conquer Taiwan by force would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world. There’s no reason to… https://t.co/dXoZonvjUv
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellATSD) May 31, 2025
The X post continues:
There’s no reason to sugarcoat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent. We hope not.”
China has been dialing its naval forces in, to be sure, but the Middle Kingdom faces some serious problems.
See Also: Is This the Twilight of China?
Intel Sources Claim China Plans Attack on Taiwan in ‘Next Few Months’
China’s population is aging, and the country is on the edge of a demographic cliff. Their economy is a house of cards. They have artificially propped up their real estate market, but that’s starting to come apart. The Trump administration is putting more pressure on China as well, as our sister site Hot Air wrote, and as of this writing, there is not yet a trade deal between the U.S. and China, despite reports of talks.
Meanwhile, the United States Navy, which has enforced a Pax Americana on the oceans of the world since 1945, has suffered through three of the last four presidential administrations, which weren’t interested in ship-building, training or force development, instead treating the American military as a combination DEI project and jobs program for the neurotic. What this all may boil down to is: If China does intend to act, it doesn’t help them to wait. Time isn’t on their side, and that’s an odd position for a culture that understands their history in terms of thousands of years.
War is, very frequently, armed robbery writ large. The Indo-Pacific is laden with resources ranging from oil to fish. China may well be looking at those resources with envy – and it’s not at all clear how easily the United States and our allies could stop them, should they choose to move.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leadership, the warrior ethos is coming back to America’s military.
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