Appearing at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a security conference where world leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron and Ministers for Defense from Japan, Australia and several other countries were also in attendance, Hegseth issued his most assertive statement on Taiwan to date, warning that threats from China could be “imminent.”

China has a stated goal of having its military be able to take Taiwan by force if necessary by 2027, a deadline that is seen by experts as more of an aspirational goal than a hard war deadline.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reassured allies in the Indo-Pacific on Saturday that they will not be left alone to face increasing military and economic pressure from China, while insisting