Asia Summit Focuses on China, 05/29 07:23

   China's rapid military modernization and assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific 
and growing concerns over American priorities are top issues on the table at 
Asia's premier defense summit drawing leaders, top diplomats and security 
officials from around the world.

   SINGAPORE (AP) -- China's rapid military modernization and assertiveness in 
the Indo-Pacific and growing concerns over American priorities are top issues 
on the table at Asia's premier defense summit drawing leaders, top diplomats 
and security officials from around the world.

   The Shangri-La Dialogue, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic 
Studies, also comes as the Middle East is increasingly on edge as new attacks 
have threatened the tenuous ceasefire in the Iran war. Russia, meanwhile, has 
intensified its war on Ukraine.

   Vietnamese leader To Lam opens the conference Friday with a keynote address, 
while U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth starts Saturday's session with 
remarks focused on the Trump administration's Indo-Pacific strategy.

   Vietnam navigates a delicate superpower balance

   Lam has consolidated his power in Vietnam this year, becoming both Communist 
Party general secretary and president of the strategically important Southeast 
Asian nation, departing from its tradition of shared leadership.

   Like several other countries in the region, Vietnam has competing maritime 
claims with Beijing that have led to confrontations, but at the same time is 
heavily tied economically to China, its biggest two-way trade partner.

   The U.S., meantime, is Vietnam's largest export destination and has been 
seeking to make diplomatic inroads and expand defense contracts to try and pull 
some of that market away from Hanoi's traditional partner, Russia.

   Recently leaked documents showed, however, that even after elevating 
relations with Washington to the highest diplomatic level, Vietnam's military 
remained skeptical of American intentions and had taken steps to defend against 
a possible American "war of aggression."

   With Hanoi performing a delicate balancing act with both Washington and 
Beijing, Lam was expected to keep his address focused on using consensus to 
manage differences and working jointly on regional stability and development.

   Lam was expected to meet on the sidelines of the conference with Hegseth, 
who will be making his second appearance at the event. Last year in Singapore, 
Hegseth raised the ire of Beijing by saying " the threat China poses is real, 
and it could be imminent," and that its military was "rehearsing for the real 
deal."

   Hegseth said Washington would bolster its defenses to counter what the 
Pentagon sees as rapidly developing threats, particularly in China's aggressive 
stance toward Taiwan.

   Questions about US commitments

   But this year's speech comes only about two weeks after U.S. President 
Donald Trump visited Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, where Xi warned that 
their two countries could clash over Taiwan if the issue was not handled 
properly.

   Following the meetings, Trump called Xi a "great leader" and said that they 
were going to have a "fantastic future together." Trump also raised questions 
about Washington's willingness to defend Taiwan, calling a new $14 billion arms 
package that he has yet to greenlight "a very good negotiating chip for us" 
with China.

   China claims the self-governing democratic island as its own, and Xi has not 
ruled out using force to take it.

   The U.S., meantime, supplies Taiwan with modern aircraft, missiles and other 
weapons to help it defend itself, though follows a policy of "strategic 
ambiguity" on whether it would intervene militarily if China were to attack the 
island.

   Trump has shown greater ambivalence toward Taiwan than his predecessors, 
fueling speculation about whether the president could be persuaded to dial back 
American support.

   Hegseth's speech will focus on the military's "common-sense approach to 
safeguarding U.S. vital national interests in the Indo-Pacific," according to 
the Pentagon.

   Coming so soon after the meeting of the two leaders in Beijing, it seems 
unlikely Hegseth will say anything to upstage Trump's own remarks.

   China is due to open Sunday's dialogue with its view, though Beijing was 
only sending a lower-level delegation this year, according to Chinese media 
reports. It was not immediately clear who would be speaking.

   Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun also did not attend last year's event.

   Ukraine and the Middle East are unavoidable topics

   While the annual conference tilts toward Asian security issues, there will 
be no avoiding Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine and the Iran war, which has 
led to the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz.

   In peacetime, a fifth of the world's oil is shipped through the strait, and 
since it has been effectively closed by Iran, global oil prices have spiked, 
causing economic problems around the world. Qatar's minister of defense is 
among the speakers this weekend.

   Just ahead of the conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote 
to Trump and U.S. Congress asking for more American-made air defense ammunition 
to counter intensifying Russian ballistic missile attacks.

   Though Zelenskyy, who made a surprise in-person appearance at Shangri-La two 
years ago, is not expected this year, speakers will include many top European 
defense officials, including from Lithuania and Poland.