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US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth stated on Tuesday that China poses a more aggressive threat to the US and that repelling Beijing is the Pentagon's top regional priority, despite its rapid military development and invasion manoeuvres near Taiwan, according to a Taipei Times report.
"Our pacing threat is communist China," Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defence during an oversight meeting with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine. "Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world," Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it may impede US reindustrialization and choke its economy, according to the Taipei Times. Hegseth believes US President Donald Trump's "peace through strength" strategy is the appropriate response, and that the stagnating US defence industrial base must be revitalised. "China is undertaking a historic military buildup and actively rehearsing for an invasion of Taiwan," he said, adding that only having the world's most powerful and lethal military--focused on protecting key US interests--can effectively deter adversaries and win a potential conflict, according to the Taipei Times report. Caine stated that the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is demonstrating its capabilities through military pressure, as operations against Taiwan grow in size, frequency, and complexity. "These violent actions are not ordinary exercises; they are rehearsals for a forced unification," he stated. According to the Taipei Times, Hegseth and Caine's comments were in line with warnings issued by US Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific force. The deployment of integrated deterrence is one of the aspects that will help maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and the Taiwan Strait, Minister of National Defence Wellington Koo told the legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defence Committee in Taipei yesterday. According to Koo, the Ministry of National Defence is closely monitoring PLA manoeuvres, as Beijing may shift from training to invasion. Chinese military exercises--whether announced or unannounced--are growing in size, he said. The military has always focused on responding to the onset of war, but it is also studying military responses to "grey zone" tactics and how threat levels should be calculated for such incidents, according to the Taipei Times. (ANI)
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