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style="display:none;font-size:1px;color:#333333;line-height:1px;max-height:0px;max-width:0px;opacity:0;overflow:hidden;">US
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivered a hawkish speech at
the Shangri-La Dialogue 2025 summit, demonizing China as a
\u201cthreat\u201d, saying, \u201cWe are preparing for war\u201d in the Asia-Pacific
region.</div>
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<h1 class="post-title published"
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href="https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=457596&post_id=165528209&utm_source=post-email-title&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=lvppb&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozNjc1MTU4MywicG9zdF9pZCI6MTY1NTI4MjA5LCJpYXQiOjE3NDk0NjYzODQsImV4cCI6MTc1MjA1ODM4NCwiaXNzIjoicHViLTQ1NzU5NiIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.JmriR8KjLK9zio8si03UMS_ydxMrP3Hkwz4ub5GX00I"
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: none;"
moz-do-not-send="true">'We are preparing for
war' with China 'threat', says US Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth</a></h1>
<h3 class="subtitle"
style="font-family: 'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight: normal;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased;-webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility;-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility;appearance: optimizelegibility;margin: 4px 0 0;color: #777777;line-height: 24px;font-size: 18px;margin-top: 12px;">US
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivered a
hawkish speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue 2025
summit, demonizing China as a \u201cthreat\u201d, saying,
\u201cWe are preparing for war\u201d in the Asia-Pacific
region.</h3>
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href="https://substack.com/@benjaminnorton" moz-do-not-send="true">Ben
Norton</a></div>
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datetime="2025-06-09T10:52:58.434Z">Jun 9, 2025<br>
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<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">US
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivered an
extremely hawkish speech in which he demonized
China as a "threat" and said, "We are preparing
for war".</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">"Those
who long for peace, must prepare for war. And
that's exactly what we're doing. We are preparing
for war, in order to deter war \u2014 to achieve peace
through strength", Hegseth stated.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>The
top Donald Trump administration official made
these aggressive </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/b0d59fa8-fd7f-4a28-b80d-ac75a882e920?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">remarks at the Shangri-La
Dialogue 2025</a><span>, a summit held in
Singapore on 31 May.</span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>"The
threat China poses is real, and it could be
imminent. We hope not, but it certainly could
be", Hegseth claimed, indicating that the
Pentagon was </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/4df5cec5-e52f-49cf-ae6a-ba7393ffafff?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">preparing for a war over
Taiwan</a><span>.</span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">"Beyond
our borders and beyond our neighborhood, we are
reorienting toward deterring aggression by
Communist China", he stressed.</p>
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<h3 class="header-anchor-post"
style="position: relative;--highlight-bg: rgba(var(--color-bg-accent-themed-rgb), 0.2);font-family: 'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight: bold;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased;-webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility;-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility;appearance: optimizelegibility;margin: 1em 0 0.625em 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 1.16em;font-size: 1.375em;">The
message of Trump's Pentagon: war is peace</h3>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">The
Trump administration's Pentagon has essentially
pushed the message "war is peace".</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Hegseth
has incessantly reiterated the slogan "peace
through strength".</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">"President
Trump said it himself [in May] in Riyadh \u2013 and
will never hesitate to wield American power
swiftly and decisively if necessary. That is
re-establishing deterrence", the defense secretary
emphasized in Singapore.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Hegseth
is a war hawk and a religious fundamentalist. He
made his name as a former host on the conservative
TV network Fox News, where Trump discovered him.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>In
2020, Hegseth published a book called \u201cAmerican
Crusade\u201d, in which he proudly identified as a
\u201ccrusader\u201d and wrote that the US right wing is </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/b8bcd8b8-aff1-439b-9cbf-88723987ef2d?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">waging a \u201choly war\u201d
against China, the international left, and Islam</a><span>.</span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">\u201cCommunist
China will fall\u2014and lick its wounds for another
two hundred years\u201d, he promised in the extremist
book.</p>
<h3 class="header-anchor-post"
style="position: relative;--highlight-bg: rgba(var(--color-bg-accent-themed-rgb), 0.2);font-family: 'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight: bold;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased;-webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility;-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility;appearance: optimizelegibility;margin: 1em 0 0.625em 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 1.16em;font-size: 1.375em;">Trump
admin pressures Asia-Pacific countries to minimize
"economic cooperation with China"</h3>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>In
his </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/d5b196c7-91a8-4e19-ae87-c0326be2da61?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">speech in Singapore in
May 2025</a><span>, Pete Hegseth noted that it
was his second time in his four months serving
as secretary of defense that he had visited the
Asia-Pacific region (which Washington has sought
to rebrand as the "Indo-Pacific").</span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>In
March, Hegseth traveled to Japan and the
Philippines, where he </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/4df5cec5-e52f-49cf-ae6a-ba7393ffafff?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">threatened China and
boasted of US \u201cwar-fighting\u201d preparations</a><span>
and \u201creal war plans\u201d.</span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">At
the Shangri-La Dialogue conference, Hegseth
half-jokingly threatened the Asia-Pacific region
with his endless presence.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">"I'm
certainly proud to be back into the Indo-Pacific
for the second time as the secretary of defense.
And I'm going to keep coming back, and back, and
back again. You're stuck with me", he said.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">The
US defense secretary pressured nations in the
region to minimize their economic relations with
China.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>The
Trump administration essentially told countries
that they must choose between either the United
States or China -- that they can't have good
relations with both sides, because </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/4df5cec5-e52f-49cf-ae6a-ba7393ffafff?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">a war could be coming
soon</a><span>.</span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Hegseth
said (emphasis added):</p>
<blockquote
style="border-left: 4px solid #ad0000;margin: 20px 0;padding: 0;">
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);margin-left: 20px;line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>Facing
these threats, we know that many countries are
</span><strong>tempted by the idea of seeking
both economic cooperation with China and
defense cooperation with the United States</strong><span>.
Now that is a geographic necessity for many.
But </span><strong>beware the leverage that
the CCP seeks</strong><span> with that
entanglement. </span><strong>Economic
dependence on China</strong><span> only
deepens their malign influence and </span><strong>complicates
our defense decision space</strong><span>
during times of tension.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<h3 class="header-anchor-post"
style="position: relative;--highlight-bg: rgba(var(--color-bg-accent-themed-rgb), 0.2);font-family: 'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight: bold;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased;-webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility;-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility;appearance: optimizelegibility;margin: 1em 0 0.625em 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 1.16em;font-size: 1.375em;">China
opposes hegemony, while the US empire seeks it</h3>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Defense
Secretary Hegseth claimed in his May speech in
Singapore that, supposedly, "China seeks to become
a hegemonic power in Asia. No doubt".</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">This
is false. China has consistently emphasized, over
decades, that it does not seek hegemony. In fact,
Beijing does not want any country to have
hegemony.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Principled
opposition to hegemony has been a constant since
the founding of the People's Republic of China
(PRC) under Mao Zedong in 1949, through the Reform
and Opening Up initiated by Deng Xiaoping in 1978,
and into the New Era launched by President Xi
Jinping in 2012.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>The
Chinese government has always stressed what it
calls its "unequivocal commitment to supporting
other developing countries in their efforts to
defend national sovereignty, develop national
economy and </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/279b81f2-ac3d-44b5-8cf9-ab05a4cf043a?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">fight imperialism,
colonialism, and hegemonism</a><span>\u201d.</span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">In
a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in
1974, Deng Xiaoping stated, "If one day China
should change her color and turn into a
superpower, if she too should play the tyrant in
the world, and everywhere subject others to her
bullying, aggression, and exploitation, the people
of the world should identify her as
social-imperialism, expose it, oppose it, and work
together with the Chinese people to overthrow it".</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>In
fact, when the PRC normalized diplomatic
relations with the United States and Japan in
the 1970s, a source of diplomatic tension was
China's insistence that, in the joint statements
signed by Beijing and Washington and Beijing and
Tokyo, there </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/887752e7-23c4-4f6f-9f4e-8b98e5f9213a?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">had to be an
"anti-hegemony" clause</a><span>.</span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">It
is actually the United States that has
consistently sought to impose its hegemony on the
rest of the world.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">This
was spelled out clearly in a 1992 document
published by the US Department of Defense, known
as the Wolfowitz Doctrine (because it was
co-written by Paul Wolfowitz, who then served as
US under secretary of defense for policy, before
later returning as secretary of defense under
George W. Bush).</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>The
Pentagon's </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/aa33cf49-9e6b-45ec-a203-38eec02c0f1c?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">Wolfowitz Doctrine stated</a><span>
(emphasis added):</span></p>
<blockquote
style="border-left: 4px solid #ad0000;margin: 20px 0;padding: 0;">
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);margin-left: 20px;line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><strong>Our
first objective is to prevent the re-emergence
of a new rival</strong><span>. This is a
dominant consideration underlying the new
regional defense strategy and requires that we
endeavor to prevent any hostile power from
dominating a region whose resources would,
under consolidated control, be sufficient to
generate global power. These regions include
Western Europe, </span><strong>East Asia</strong><span>,
the territory of the former Soviet Union, and
Southwest Asia.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">The
Trump administration's foreign policy is still
consistent with much of the Wolfowitz Doctrine.
Although Trump has de-prioritized Western Europe
and the territory of the former USSR, he has
dedicated significant resources to US military
operations in East Asia and Southwest Asia (also
known as the Middle East).</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">In
fact, the main theme of Hegseth's speech was that
the Pentagon will not accept China challenging US
dominance in the Asia-Pacific region.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">"We
will not be pushed out of this critical region",
Hegseth said, in a clear message to Beijing.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">This
was the US empire stating clearly that it seeks to
impose its hegemonic control over East Asia.</p>
<h3 class="header-anchor-post"
style="position: relative;--highlight-bg: rgba(var(--color-bg-accent-themed-rgb), 0.2);font-family: 'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight: bold;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased;-webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility;-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility;appearance: optimizelegibility;margin: 1em 0 0.625em 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 1.16em;font-size: 1.375em;">Bipartisan
warmongering in Washington</h3>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">This
aggressive anti-China stance is bipartisan in
Washington.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">A
former top Joe Biden administration official said
he agreed with the thrust of the anti-China policy
pursued by Pete Hegseth, a right-wing extremist
and religious fanatic.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>Ely
Ratner, who served as the assistant secretary of
defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs in
Biden's Pentagon, wrote approvingly on
Twitter/X, "Rhetoric aside, on actual defense
policy Secretary Hegseth's speech was </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/af29cdc2-7a48-4053-8a8c-0880b5898501?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">near total continuity
with the previous administration</a><span>\u201d.</span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">"That's
good, but we'll need heightened urgency,
attention, and resources to address the China
challenge", Ratner added.</p>
<div class="captioned-image-container-static"
style="font-size: 16px;line-height: 26px;margin: 32px auto;">
<figure style="width: 100%;margin: 0 auto;">
<table class="image-wrapper" width="100%"
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<td style="text-align: center;"><br>
</td>
<td class="content" align="left"
width="1080" style="text-align: center;"><a
class="image-link" target="_blank"
href="https://substack.com/redirect/c74f6a7e-a234-4e84-811d-814912173172?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
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class="wide-image"
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alt="" width="550"
height="356.48148148148147"
src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1100,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff60199b6-a4e1-4fee-8266-78ec445ade6c_1080x700.jpeg"
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<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Biden's
neoconservative Secretary of State Antony Blinken
had also maintained a hardline anti-China
position.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>In
a speech in 2022, </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/a1ab41e0-48e8-4dea-915a-17b9c8fbaa6b?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">Blinken announced what
was essentially a containment policy targeting
China</a><span>.</span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">\u201cWe
cannot rely on Beijing to change its trajectory.
So we will shape the strategic environment around
Beijing\u201d, he said.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;margin-bottom: 0;">Blinken
added, \u201cThe scale and the scope of the challenge
posed by the People\u2019s Republic of China will test
American diplomacy like nothing we\u2019ve seen
before\u201d.</p>
</div>
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