ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
A three-day defense summit in Asia, called the Shangri-La Dialogue, has wrapped up in Singapore. It's typically a time for the U.S. and Chinese defense ministers to lay out their views on regional issues. For the second year in a row, though, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth showed up while his Chinese counterpart did not. NPR's Jennifer Pak reports from Singapore.
JENNIFER PAK, BYLINE: Defense Secretary Hegseth has tried to reassure allies that the U.S. is still committed to the Indo-Pacific region, but it's going to cost, he said in a blunt speech on Saturday at the forum.
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PETE HEGSETH: For those who believe they can continue to free ride on the generosity of the American taxpayer, hear us now. Those days are over.
PAK: U.S. allies, he says, need to ramp up defense spending up to 3 1/2% of their GDP - fine for wealthier U.S. allies like Japan and South Korea, not so for smaller countries like Malaysia.
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MOHAMED KHALED NORDIN: But for a country like Malaysia, a developing country...
PAK: The country's defense minister, Mohamed Khaled Nordin, told the forum Malaysia has more pressing sectors to spend on first as a developing country. For years, he says, big players lectured countries like his - rules matter.
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KHALED NORDIN: But today, treaties, humanitarian principles and international commitments are being disregarded and selectively interpreted whenever these do not align with geopolitical interests.
PAK: A not-so-subtle dig at the U.S., says Ankit Panda, who was in the audience and works on nuclear strategy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Hegseth's speech, he says, might have played well with President Trump and his MAGA base back in the U.S.
ANKIT PANDA: But in terms of offering the region a reassuring, positive vision of American leadership, I just think the speech completely missed the mark.
PAK: Though, Australia came out of the forum happy. It, along with the U.K. and U.S., announced they're developing unmanned undersea vehicles as part of their defense pact. Japan is also building up its defenses, but Japanese defense minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, says it's not aimed at any country.
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SHINJIRO KOIZUMI: That said, China continues to increase its defense spending at a high level and is rapidly expanding its military capabilities across a wide range of areas without sufficient transparency.
PAK: China did send a delegation of military experts and scholars, but they were too low-level to respond in any meaningful way. For China to not send its defense minister is a missed opportunity to cool tensions with partners, says international relations professor Ken Jimbo at Japan's Keio University. But at least, he says, China and the U.S. recently agreed to a more stable relationship, though it's only partly reassuring because...
KEN JIMBO: The current definition of the constructive relationship of strategic stability is only in between Washington and Beijing.
PAK: How that might change the way U.S. allies interact with China, he says, the U.S. hasn't said. Meantime...
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KHALED NORDIN: We have seen. We learn from the Ukraine-Russian war.
PAK: Malaysia's Mohamed Khaled says he's drawing lessons from the wars in Ukraine and Iran. He says any help for Malaysia to develop assets and weapons for an asymmetric warfare is welcomed. Jennifer Pak, NPR News, Singapore.
(SOUNDBITE OF FLAWED MANGOES' "SWIMMING") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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