Hegseth Calls on Asia Allies to Boost 'Combat Power'

The era of the United States subsidizing the defense of wealthy nations is over. We need partners, not protectorates. This region has profound implications for U.S. security and prosperity. It's the world's largest and most dynamic market area. It's why our national defense strategy directs the Department of War to set the military conditions required to achieve a lasting and favorable balance of power in the Pacific region. A mutual understanding that a Pacific dominated by any hegemon would unravel the regional balance of power and undermine the equilibrium we all seek to preserve. A favorable but durable balance of power in which no state, including China, can impose its hegemony and hold the security or prosperity of our nation and our allies in question. Under President Trump's leadership, relations between the United States and China are better than they've been in many years. President Trump and this administration seek a stable peace, fair trade, and respectful relations with China. We are meeting more frequently with our Chinese counterparts. By maintaining open lines of military-to-military communication, we can coordinate, deconflict, and reduce the risk of miscalculation. And we insist that China respect our longstanding position in the region, and not just insist, but maintain the manifest military strength to underwrite it. Our military posture will be resilient, distributed, and optimized to deny quick, decisive gains through military force. This is the logic of strategy. And it's the essence of peace through strength, and the foundation of a durable peace in the Pacific that benefits all of us. For too long, the security of this region has rested disproportionately on American military power, while many of our allies and partners allowed their own defense capabilities to atrophy. Alliances only work when they are true partnerships. It is a two-way street. You don't have a strong alliance unless everyone has skin in the game. No freeloading. History is not over. We don't need more conferences. We need more combat power. Less Shangri-La. More ships. More subs. For too long, polite pleas from our European allies to spend more on their own defense fell on deaf ears. They are finally playing catch-up, and we let ourselves get distracted by empty globalist rhetoric about the rules-based international order. We applaud the pragmatism and leadership demonstrated by Seoul. The region will be far more stable and more secure when other allies and partners follow that path. We have high expectations of our Japanese allies, and together we can and must each pull our weight to strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance.