Pentagon chief warns China ‘preparing’ to use military force in Asia
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned Saturday that China was “credibly preparing” to use military force to upend the balance of power in Asia, vowing the United States was “here to stay” in the Indo-Pacific region.The Pentagon chief made the remarks at an annual security forum in Singapore as the administration of US President Donald Trump spars with Beijing on trade, technology, and influence over strategic corners of the globe.Since taking office in January, Trump has launched a trade war with China, sought to curb its access to key AI technologies and deepened security ties with allies such as the Philippines, which is engaged in escalating territorial disputes with Beijing.”The threat China poses is real and it could be imminent,” Hegseth said at the Shangri-La Dialogue attended by defence officials from around the world.Beijing is “credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific”, he added.Hegseth warned the Chinese military was building the capabilities to invade Taiwan and “rehearsing for the real deal”.Beijing has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan and held multiple large-scale exercises around the island, often described as preparations for a blockade or invasion.The United States was “reorienting toward deterring aggression by communist China”, Hegseth said, calling on US allies and partners in Asia to swiftly upgrade their defences in the face of mounting threats.- ‘Wake-up call’ –Hegseth described China’s conduct as a “wake-up call”, accusing Beijing of endangering lives with cyber attacks, harassing its neighbours, and “illegally seizing and militarising lands” in the South China Sea.Beijing claims almost the entire disputed waterway, through which more than 60 percent of global maritime trade passes, despite an international ruling that its assertion has no merit.It has clashed repeatedly with the Philippines in the strategic waters in recent months, with the flashpoint set to dominate discussions at the Singapore defence forum, according to US officials.As Hegseth spoke in Singapore, China’s military announced that its navy and air force were carrying out routine “combat readiness patrols” around the Scarborough Shoal, a chain of reefs and rocks Beijing disputes with the Philippines.”China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea has only increased in recent years,” Casey Mace, charge d’affaires at the US embassy in Singapore, told journalists ahead of the meeting.”I think that this type of forum is exactly the type of forum where we need to have an exchange on that.”Beijing has not sent any top defence ministry officials to the summit, dispatching a delegation from the People’s Liberation Army National Defence University instead.Hegseth’s hard-hitting address drew a critical reaction from Chinese analysts at the conference.Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University told reporters the speech was “very unfriendly” and “very confrontational”, accusing Washington of double standards in demanding Beijing respect its neighbours while bullying its own — including Canada and Greenland.Former Senior Colonel Zhou Bo, from the Centre for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University told AFP that training drills did not mean China would invade Taiwan, saying the government wanted “peaceful reunification”.Hegseth’s comments came after Trump stoked new trade tensions with China, arguing that Beijing had “violated” a deal to de-escalate tariffs as the two sides appeared deadlocked in negotiations.The world’s two biggest economies had agreed to temporarily lower eye-watering tariffs they had imposed on each other, pausing them for 90 days.- ‘Priority theatre’ -Reassuring US allies on Saturday, Hegseth said the Indo-Pacific was “America’s priority theatre”, pledging to ensure “China cannot dominate us — or our allies and partners”.He said the United States had stepped up cooperation with allies including the Philippines and Japan, and reiterated Trump’s vow that “China will not invade (Taiwan) on his watch”.But he called on US partners in the region to ramp up spending on their militaries and “quickly upgrade their own defences”.”Asian allies should look to countries in Europe for a newfound example,” Hegseth said, citing pledges by NATO members including Germany to move toward Trump’s spending target of five percent of GDP.”Deterrence doesn’t come on the cheap.”EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, also in Singapore, said the Trump adminstration’s “tough love” had helped push the continent to beef up its defences.”It’s love nonetheless, so it’s better than no love,” Kallas quipped when asked about Hegseth’s speech.
India monsoon floods kill five in northeast
Torrential monsoon rains in India’s northeast triggered landslides and floods that swept away and killed at least five people in Assam, disaster officials said Saturday.India’s annual monsoon season from June to September offers respite from intense summer heat and is crucial for replenishing water supplies, but also brings widespread death and destruction.The deaths recorded are among the first of this season, with scores often killed over the course of the rains across India, a country of 1.4 billion people.The monsoon is a colossal sea breeze that brings South Asia 70-80 percent of its annual rainfall.Rivers swollen by the lashing rain — including the mighty Brahmaputra and its tributaries — broke their banks across the region.But the intensity of rain and floods has increased in recent years, with experts saying climate change is exacerbating the problem.Assam State Disaster Management Authority officials on Saturday confirmed five deaths in the last 24 hours.A red alert warning had been issued for 12 districts of Assam after non-stop rains over the last three days led to flooding in many urban areas.  The situation was particularly bad in the state capital Guwahati.City authorities have disconnected the electricity in several districts to cut the risk of electrocution.Several low-lying areas of Guwahati were flooded, with hundreds of families forced to abandon homes to seek shelter elsewhere.Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said his government had deployed rescue teams. “We have been reviewing the impending situation for the last three days”, he said in a statement, saying that supplies of rice had been dispatched as food aid.South Asia is getting hotter and in recent years has seen shifting weather patterns, but scientists are unclear on how exactly a warming planet is affecting the highly complex monsoon.On Monday, lashing rains swamped India’s financial capital Mumbai, where the monsoon rains arrived some two weeks earlier than usual, the earliest for nearly a quarter century, according to weather forecasters.
Chinese automakers get stern ‘price war’ warning after discount spree
A top industry group had a stern rebuke Saturday for automakers fuelling a “price war”, a week after Chinese EV giant BYD announced sweeping trade-in discounts, with multiple competitors following suit.”Since May 23, a certain automaker has taken the lead in launching a substantial price drop campaign… triggering a new round of ‘price war’ panic,” the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said in a statement posted to its WeChat account.The group warned that such “disorderly” competition would “exacerbate harmful rivalry” and hurt profit.The statement, dated May 30, did not single out any company by name, but on May 23, BYD announced it was offering big trade-in discounts on nearly two dozen makes, offering discounts of up to 34 percent.Its cheapest model, the smart-driving Seagull, now goes for a starting price of 55,800 yuan ($7,800), down from 69,800 yuan, with a trade-in.Days later, Stellantis-backed Chinese EV startup Leapmotor announced similar discounts on two “entry-level” models through June 8.Geely Auto announced Friday limited-time trade-in subsidies for 10 models, with its X3 Pro going for the lowest starting price of 44,900 yuan.But there is growing domestic criticism against what the autos association called “involution” — a popular tag used to describe the race to outcompete that ends up nowhere.The CEO of China’s Great Wall Motor, whose annual revenue was roughly a quarter of BYD’s, compared it to the start of China’s years-long housing slump triggered by the 2021 default of property giant Evergrande.”Evergrande in the auto industry already exists,” Wei Jianjun said this month in an interview with Chinese outlet Sina Finance.”I hope that… all these years of hard work will not go to waste.”Beijing has poured vast state funds into the electric vehicle sector, supporting the development and production of less polluting battery-powered vehicles.But China’s automakers association on Saturday warned its goliaths to play fair.”Leading companies must not monopolise the market,” the CAAM statement said.It added that “with the exception of lawful discounting, companies must not sell products below cost nor engage in misleading advertising”.Such behaviour disrupted the market and harmed both consumer and the industry, it said.An unnamed official from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology added that price wars “produce no winners and no future”, the state-backed Global Times reported Saturday.