BEIJING – China on June 1 warned the United States it “should not play with fire” over Taiwan and said it had lodged “representations” with Washington over comments made by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth at a summit in Singapore.

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.”

Beijing says the US defence secretary’s comments that it was rehearsing for the real deal “ignored the calls of regional countries for peace and development”.