00:00Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. is ready to restart strikes in Iran if there is no deal
00:04between the two countries.
00:06In a speech in Singapore, Hegseth also took some swipes at NATO allies.
00:10Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, he talked about the Middle East, U.S. partnerships, and China's military expansion.
00:17There is rightful alarm regarding China's historic military buildup and the expansion of its military activities in the region and
00:26beyond.
00:26We share a clear-eyed assessment of that security environment and a mutual understanding that a Pacific dominated by any
00:36hegemon would unravel the regional balance of power and undermine the equilibrium we all seek to preserve.
00:42The Department of War is working with the utmost focus to prevent any such unraveling.
00:49We do not approach this challenge with needless confrontation, but with a posture of measured and deliberate strength.
00:57On the sidelines of that important security and defense summit is our colleague Heslinda Amin, who is a Bloomberg editor
01:02-at-large and the host of Insight with Heslinda Amin on Bloomberg Television.
01:06Heslinda, always great to speak with you, and I wonder if you could set the scene for us first.
01:09Maybe pick up on what the defense secretary said there and how that's coloring the proceedings that are taking place
01:14in Singapore this weekend.
01:18Well, you heard from Heslinda himself.
01:20I mean, it is a balancing act.
01:22The tone that Heslinda adopted this time around reflects a relationship with China, which is still being redefined.
01:30He talked about how relations are constructive, that China is possibly a partner, and that communications between the two sides
01:37are open.
01:38In fact, the two militaries are in communication, and that is what is interesting here, David.
01:44When you speak to experts, they point to how relations within the two till now have been lacking in communication,
01:51and that's led to some big misunderstandings, prompting to that relationship being on the brink at some point.
01:58Case in point, back in October, when the U.S. imposed heightened terrorists and that prompted China to retaliate by
02:08withholding critical minerals to the U.S., bringing the U.S. economy to its knees.
02:15Now, that's because of a lack of communication, and I think the U.S. and China are trying to rectify
02:20that.
02:20If you take a look at what happened in Beijing just two weeks ago, we had President Trump before leaving
02:26Beijing after the summit telling Xi Jinping, you know what?
02:30Call me.
02:31Maybe if there are issues between the two sides, it is an attempt to redefine that relationship, and communications are
02:39pretty much key.
02:40And you know what?
02:40It is interesting to note as well that the Pew Research recently stated what the Americans themselves think about China.
02:47They no longer think of China as an enemy, as a foe.
02:52They see China as a rival.
02:55They can coexist.
02:56And perhaps this is that defining moment.
03:00Haslinda, it's so nice to finally get to talk to you.
03:02This is the first time I've gotten the opportunity since joining the team here.
03:05But I do want to ask you a little bit more about Hegseth before we kind of broaden out a
03:09little bit, because in this Q&A, he was also asked about future arms sales to Taiwan.
03:15And if he was able to do that, there's been reporting that those stockpiles are low.
03:20And so there's two ways to look at this.
03:23It's either being used as a bargaining chip, as the president said, or it's being put on hold because those
03:27stockpiles are low and the U.S. will need them.
03:29What was his response, and how is that playing out at the forum?
03:34First of all, I want to say that Taiwan is the red line in relations between the U.S. and
03:40China.
03:41Taiwan, that China has warned time and time again that if it is mismanaged, that could be severe consequences.
03:48So Taiwan really is the red line.
03:50And the fact that Hegseth's speech did not mention Taiwan at all, that is a big deal.
03:55Because if you recall, back in his speech a year ago, this time last year in Shanghai, he talked about
04:02Taiwan.
04:03He mentioned Taiwan five times this time around.
04:05No mention of Taiwan, even though Taiwan is the key issue for the world today.
04:09It was only during the Q&A when he was asked about the deal, that arms deal, which China took
04:14issue with, that he said, you know what, President Trump will decide on that.
04:19That in itself is a reflection of how sensitive he is to the topic of Taiwan.
04:25So I think the fact that he refused to answer that question says everything.
04:30You, of course, are watching all of the proceedings.
04:32You are participating in them as well.
04:33You're doing interviews on the sidelines here.
04:35And you spoke to NATO's military chief a little bit earlier today.
04:38And, yes, the focus is very much on the Indo-Pacific, but also on Europe.
04:42There are a lot of European security and defense officials there as well.
04:45And you asked him about the relationship between the U.S. and NATO.
04:48Let's take a little bit of a listen to the colloquy that you had with the NATO military chief.
04:52In the speech by Pete Haxas, the Secretary of War of the U.S., he talked about how there are
04:56great benefits for allies that help themselves.
05:01It seems to be a dig for Europe and NATO.
05:05How do you assess what's been relayed by Pete Haxas?
05:10Well, this is nothing new.
05:13We had a message, loud and clear, a long time ago.
05:17I think that we react.
05:19We, I mean, we had a commitment, a strong commitment in The Hague to reach 5% by 2035.
05:27We are on that path.
05:28We are progreeding on that.
05:29We are just doing it.
05:31We have a NATO defense planning process to give us the capability that we need.
05:36And we will acquire that in time.
05:38So I think we are in a good, in a good shape.
05:41And, of course, we as a military side, we don't have any drama going on.
05:47The Cabo Dragone there.
05:49Hustlinda, put that into a broader context again.
05:52The focus here among those allies still very much on President Trump's call for these European nations to contribute more,
05:58larger percentage of their GDP to defense.
06:00How much is that being talked about at this forum thus far?
06:05You know what?
06:06The NATO military chief was pretty plain and clear.
06:10He talked about how they are listening to the U.S.
06:13They are bringing that defense spending up to 5%.
06:16It won't happen overnight.
06:17It will take time.
06:19But they are getting there.
06:20They have listened.
06:21And they know their commitment.
06:22I think that's one.
06:23The other thing he talked about was how the relationship between the U.S. and NATO is mature.
06:29It's stable.
06:31And it will go through all these challenges.
06:33And it is adapting to the current challenges and the current time.
06:37And I think that's key.
06:38I think you need to draw that comparison with the relationship that the U.S. has with this part of
06:44the world, the Indo-Pacific, which is very much reliant on the U.S. for, I guess, in a way,
06:50for lack of better expression, protection.
06:53I mean, with the China's buildup in this part of the world, you know, it is only a U.S.-led
06:59alliance, a U.S.-led response that can counter the defense.
07:04But in any case, I think the point to note really is the U.S. can't do anything alone.
07:08It requires NATO in Europe.
07:10It requires, you know, the partners in this part of the world to actually counter that buildup that we see
07:16from China right now.
07:17Certainly an argument NATO allies have been making pretty strongly to the White House.
07:21Haslana, quickly before we let you go, there is news that the New York Times has kicked out – I'm
07:26sorry, excuse me, China has kicked out the New York Times' longstanding, very accomplished China reporter Vivian Wang after that
07:33outlet did an interview with a separate reporter with the president of Taiwan.
07:38Historically, China's been pretty tolerant of Taiwanese officials doing media outlet interviews, especially with American outlets.
07:45Does this mark a change?
07:47Is China cracking down?
07:48And is it concerning that this is coming on the heels of that Trump-Xi summit?
07:54Well, it's really hard to say what really is happening because it's hard to say what U.S. policy is
08:00towards Taiwan right now.
08:02I think there is a reassessment of how the U.S. views Taiwan.
08:05Some people view that under this current administration, the Taiwan issue is no longer a key issue in America's policy
08:13towards China.
08:14There are other bigger issues that it needs to handle.
08:17So it's really hard to say whether the crackdown is continuing and how, you know, the world should be responding.
08:25I think there's a lack of clarity, and we just have to wait and see what the actual policy is
08:29towards Taiwan.
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