“NATO members are pledging to spend 5% of their GDP on defence — even Germany,” Hegseth said Saturday at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. “So it doesn’t make sense for countries in Europe to do that while key allies in Asia spend less on defence in the face of an even more formidable threat, not to mention North Korea?”
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pressed US partners in Asia to boost defence spending toward 5% of gross domestic product, warning that more urgency is needed to prepare for a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
Addressing defence officials at a conference in Singapore, Hegseth warned countries against deepening economic ties with China while boosting defence relations with the US. And he made clear President Donald Trump’s administration would apply the NATO model to the region — aggressively demanding countries spend more to defend themselves.
