‘Clear-eyed’ on China: the takeaways from Pete Hegseth’s Shangri-La speech

INTELLIGENCE SUMMARY

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Saturday morning, just two weeks after a summit between the presidents of China and the United States. The speech was expected to be a barometer of the summit’s outcomes between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump. Here are some of the main points from Hegseth’s address. Tough on China, but less confrontational Hegseth referred to China’s “historic military build-up” and reaffirmed...