Europe bristles at US proposals at Asian gathering

1/6/2025 17:07

The Shangri-La Dialogue security meeting in Singapore has long been marked by U.S.-China rivalry but Beijing's relative retreat at the weekend exposed a new faultline - tensions between the U.S. and Europe over Asia.



Even as he warned in a speech on Saturday that China posed an "imminent" threat, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made clear he wanted Europeans to concentrate on European security as they boosted military budgets.



"We would much prefer that the overwhelming balance of European investment be on that continent...so that as we partner there, which we will continue to do, we're able to use our comparative advantage as an Indo-Pacific nation to support our partners here," he said.



Hegseth also noted the absence of his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun, as Beijing instead dispatched a low-level team of military scholars to the annual event, which attracts top defence officials, diplomats, spies and arms dealers from across the world.



The other highlight of the event was the presence of high-powered military delegations from India and Pakistan after four days of intense clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbours that were halted by a ceasefire on May 10.