Shangri-La Dialogue 2026: China’s former Vice FM reacts to Hegseth’s speech

What did China's former Vice Foreign Minister and former ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai make of US Pete Hegseth's speech where he demanded that allies up their defence spending, citing alarm over China's military build-up in the Asia-Pacific region? "We have a longstanding position on such military alliances. They should not be directed against any third party, certainly not China. So, how the US shares the burden with its allies is their business,” said Mr Cui. "I believe in order to have regional security and stability, what we need is not such exclusive, confrontational alliances, but common comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security with all the players," he added. Subscribe to our channel here: https://cna.asia/youtubesub Visit our website: https://cna.asia Download our app: https://cna.asia/app Get our editors' picks of stories via chat apps: Telegram: https://cna.asia/telegram WhatsApp: https://cna.asia/whatsapp Follow us on these platforms: https://www.facebook.com/channelnewsasia https://www.instagram.com/channelnewsasia https://www.tiktok.com/@channelnewsasia