China says Hegseth is touting a Cold War mentality in calling it a threat

BEIJING -- China connected Sunday denounced U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for calling the Asian state a threat, accusing him of touting a Cold War mentality arsenic tensions betwixt Washington and Beijing further escalate.

The overseas ministry said Hegseth had vilified Beijing with defamatory allegations the erstwhile time earlier astatine the Shangri-La Dialogue, a planetary information conference. The connection besides accused the United States of inciting struggle and confrontation successful the region.

“Hegseth deliberately ignored the telephone for bid and improvement by countries successful the region, and alternatively touted the Cold War mentality for bloc confrontation,” it said, referring to the post-World War II rivalry betwixt the U.S. and the erstwhile Soviet Union.

“No state successful the satellite deserves to beryllium called a hegemonic powerfulness different than the U.S. itself,” it said, alleging that Washington is besides undermining bid and stableness successful the Asia-Pacific.

Hegseth said successful Singapore connected Saturday that Washington volition bolster its defenses overseas to antagonistic what the Pentagon sees arsenic rapidly processing threats by Beijing, peculiarly successful its assertive stance toward Taiwan.

China’s service “is rehearsing for the existent deal,” Hegseth said. “We are not going to sugarcoat it — the menace China poses is real. And it could beryllium imminent.”

The Chinese connection stressed that the Taiwan question is wholly China’s interior affair, saying the U.S. indispensable “never play with fire” with it. It besides alleged Washington had deployed violative weaponry successful the South China Sea, was “stoking flames and creating tensions successful the Asia-Pacific” and "turning the portion into a pulverization keg.”

In a Facebook station connected Saturday, China's Embassy successful Singapore said Hegseth’s code was “steeped successful provocations and instigation.”

The U.S. and China had reached a woody past period to cut U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs from 145% to 30% for 90 days, creating clip for negotiators from some sides to scope a much substantive agreement. China besides reduced its taxes connected U.S. goods from 125% to 10%.

But it's uncertain if a commercialized warfare truce volition last. Trump successful a societal media station connected Friday said helium would no longer beryllium “nice” with China erstwhile it comes to commercialized and accused Beijing of breaking an unspecified statement with the U.S.

Tensions escalated anew aft the U.S. said connected Wednesday it would commencement revoking visas for Chinese students studying there.

Separately, the Chinese Embassy successful Singapore criticized attempts to nexus the contented of Taiwan with that of the warfare successful Ukraine aft French President Emmanuel Macron warned of a unsafe treble modular successful focusing connected a imaginable struggle with China astatine the outgo of abandoning Ukraine.

The embassy made nary notation of Macron successful its station connected Facebook that included a photograph showing the French president astatine the Singapore forum.

“If 1 tries to denounce ‘double standards’ done the lens of a treble standard, the lone effect we tin get is inactive treble standard,” it said.

China, which usually sends its defence curate to the Shangri-La forum, this clip sent a lower-level delegation led by Maj. Gen. Hu Gangfeng, the vice president of the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University.