China blasted U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s speech at a defense forum in Singapore over the weekend, accusing him of trying “to sow discord” after he warned of a potentially “imminent” threat to Taiwan.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he came to Asia’s preeminent security forum to talk “tanks, not tariffs.” But for other leaders, Trump’s trade war was hard to set aside.

China criticized the United States on Sunday for having a "Cold War mentality" after Pete Hegseth appeared to warn that the U.S. is prepared to go to war to prevent China from dominating the Indo-Pacific.