It’s finally June, and you know what that means! Summer’s The Shangri-La Dialogue is finally back, bringing together generals, leaders, security folks, and academics from 47 countries.
Here are five of the most intriguing quotes from this year’s summit:
- “We are here to stay. As a matter of fact, we are here this morning, and somebody else is not.” – US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth
In keeping with the tone of Trump 2.0, Hegseth’s keynote speech was anything but low-key.
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In this instance, he took a jab at China, which didn’t send a defence minister to the summit for the first time in three years. Folks wondered if China’s move was ceding important diplomatic space to DC, and it has left many (including us) puzzled.
In addition to this quip, Hegseth set analysts scrambling by suggesting “the threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent”, in reference to a potential invasion of Taiwan. The Chinese Embassy in Singapore hit back, accusing the US of deploying weapons in the region and “escalating tensions”.
- “It is hard to believe, […], that I am saying this, but thanks to President Trump, Asian allies should look to countries in Europe as a new-found example.” – US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth
Yeah, you read that correctly.
Hegseth’s comments are a far cry from his Signalgate messages describing Europe as “free-loading” and “pathetic”, and come ahead of a NATO summit later this month. Europe’s pledges to increase its defence spending seem to have pleased President Trump.
Hegseth appears to be suggesting that the US’s Indo-Pacific allies must make similar pledges, now that the region has officially become Washington’s “priority theatre”.
- “If China does not want NATO being involved in Southeast Asia or in Asia, they should prevent, clearly, the DPRK to be engaged on the European soil.”– French President Emmanuel Macron
Macron took to the stage on the summit’s opening day to deliver the first SLD keynote address by a European leader.
He kicked off his speech by reminding the audience that France is still an Indo-Pacific power, though “it is most of the time forgotten” (ooft). Having laid these doubts to rest, he dedicated a significant portion of his speech to addressing what he described as “double standards” on the world stage.
According to Macron, leaders are actively undermining the post-WWII order by declining to openly condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, by failing to call out Israel’s latest assault in Gaza, or, in China’s case, by criticising NATO’s footprint in Asia while allowing North Korean soldiers to fight against Ukraine.
Inconsistency, he argued, will be the undoing of the rules-based global order. And what succeeds it will be much worse: a time of “division of the world and a division between the two superpowers”.
- “Like any critical system, [trade] must be protected not from competition, but from the onslaught of arbitrary imposition of trade restrictions” – Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
Why is the Malaysian PM talking about trade at a defence conference? Simple, when exports make up nearly 70% of your country’s GDP, trade becomes a matter of national security and prosperity.
You can be sure his apprehension is shared by many Southeast Asian leaders and is a key reminder that if the US wants to strengthen its strategic footprint in the region, it will have a hard time doing so while also undermining Southeast Asia’s lifeline: trade.
- “State-sponsored cyber attacks are on the rise, and repeated damage to undersea cables, suspected to involve certain countries, these have had serious implications in the field relevant to defence” – Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani
Cyber attacks and ‘grey zone’ tactics have become central to how nations engage in conflict, and Nakatani’s comment further proves this shift (while also throwing some serious shade at Russia and China). Most worryingly, Nakatani argues, these attacks “undermine the very foundations of our societies and economies” by targeting public infrastructure.
Intrigue’s Take
There’s been a pretty significant vibe shift in the past few months, and it was ever more evident at this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue: China and the US have gone from ‘strategic competitors’ to pretty outright open rivals. The gloves and muzzles are off. And secondly, defence and security are atop everyone’s agendas.
And this is worrying the rest of the world: Macron’s insistence on the rules-based order, Anwar’s jitters around trade, Nakatani’s unease at the use of grey zone tactics—everyone’s sensing the world is shifting beneath their feet, without knowing what’s around the corner and how to navigate it.
