BEIJING (AP) 鈥 China on Sunday denounced U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for calling the Asian country a threat, accusing him of touting a Cold War mentality as tensions between Washington and Beijing further escalate.
The foreign ministry said Hegseth vilified Beijing with defamatory allegations the previous day at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a global security conference. The statement also accused the United States of inciting conflict and confrontation in the region.
鈥淗egseth deliberately ignored the call for peace and development by countries in the region, and instead touted the Cold War mentality for bloc confrontation,鈥 it said, referring to the post-World War II rivalry between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union.
鈥淣o country in the world deserves to be called a hegemonic power other than the U.S. itself,鈥 it said, alleging that Washington is also undermining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific.
Hegseth said in Singapore on Saturday that Washington will bolster its defenses overseas to counter what the Pentagon sees as rapidly developing threats by Beijing, particularly in its aggressive stance toward Taiwan.
China鈥檚 army 鈥渋s rehearsing for the real deal,鈥 Hegseth said. 鈥淲e are not going to sugarcoat it 鈥 the threat China poses is real. And it could be imminent.鈥
A 鈥榩rovocation鈥 by Hegseth
The Chinese statement said the matter of Taiwan is China鈥檚 internal affair and that the U.S. should 鈥渘ever play with fire鈥 with it. The statement also alleged Washington had deployed offensive weaponry in the South China Sea, was 鈥渟toking flames and creating tensions in the Asia-Pacific鈥 and "turning the region into a powder keg.鈥
Spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang of China's defense ministry called Hegseth's comments a provocation and said they distorted China鈥檚 policy positions.
The U.S. and China had reached a deal last month to for 90 days, creating time for negotiators from both sides to reach a more substantive agreement. China also reduced its taxes on U.S. goods from 125% to 10%.
But it's uncertain if a trade war truce will last. Trump in a social media post on Friday said he would when it comes to trade and accused Beijing of breaking an unspecified agreement with the U.S.
Tensions escalated anew after the U.S. said on Wednesday it would start studying there.
The matter of the Philippines
At the Singapore forum on Sunday, Philippines Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro scoffed at the idea that the U.S. was the problem.
The Philippines has been involved in over competing claims in the South China Sea. Teodoro said what the Chinese government saw as fair might be contrary to the norms accepted by the rest of the world.
The Chinese Embassy in Singapore in separate Facebook posts described Teodoro鈥檚 remarks as 鈥済roundless accusations鈥 and argued that the South China Sea Islands are China鈥檚 inherent territories.
The 鈥渢roublemaker鈥 is not China, it said, and cited what it said were recent illegal intrusions by the Philippines into the waters adjacent to two reefs.
鈥淪ome outside power鈥 was posing the biggest threat to peace with the deployment of offensive weapons and roping in allies for frequent military drills, it said, without naming anyone.
鈥淲hich country is coercing and bullying others, and instigating conflicts and confrontation in the South China Sea? The answer is clear to all,鈥 it said.
And then there was Macron
Separately, the Chinese Embassy in Singapore on Saturday criticized attempts to link the issue of Taiwan with that of the war in Ukraine after French President Emmanuel Macron at the cost of abandoning Ukraine.
The embassy did not name Macron in its post on Facebook, but the post included a photo showing the French president at the Singapore forum.
鈥淚f one tries to denounce 鈥榙ouble standards鈥 through the lens of a double standard, the only result we can get is still double standard,鈥 it said.
China, which usually sends its defense minister to the Shangri-La forum, this time sent a lower-level delegation led by Maj. Gen. Hu Gangfeng, the vice president of the People鈥檚 Liberation Army 好色tv Defense University.
