Indo-Pacific nations are moving to expand defence ties and strengthen their own military capabilities as China’s armed forces grow rapidly and doubts persist over the long-term US focus on a region Washington has dominated for decades, reports Reuters.
The push was laid bare at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Saturday, where US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged regional partners to carry more of the security burden while officials wrestled with concerns that conflict in Iran could distract Washington from the Indo-Pacific.
“We can do two things at one time,” Hegseth told Asia’s premier defence forum, a freewheeling annual gathering of defence chiefs, military officers and intelligence officials.
His Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi said he believed the US commitment to the region was “unwavering”, while accepting that some countries might still underestimate Washington’s resolve.
But interviews with Reuters on the sidelines of the forum showed that regional defence chiefs and military officials are already trying to do more with each other, beyond the traditional US security umbrella.
“All the defence secretaries here present are unanimous in the need to make agile and speedy upscaling of their own individual defence capabilities,” Philippines Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told Reuters.
Teodoro described the shift as a way of “buttressing” the long-standing US role, with Manila building deeper defence links with Japan, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
“The commitment of the United States becomes more solid when more actors, at least in the deterrence phase, come in, because there is a common threat,” he said.
Japan is trying to place itself at the centre of the emerging network.
Koizumi said Tokyo wanted to serve as a “connecting point” for wider regional cooperation beyond China.
In April, Japan announced its largest overhaul of defence export rules in decades, removing curbs on overseas arms sales and clearing the way for exports of warships, missiles and other weapons.
“Japan will be even more proactive in defence equipment cooperation,” Koizumi told the forum. “Our aim is to ensure that each country has the capabilities it needs and to make them available when needed.”
Singapore Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing said the current security environment required countries to “develop flexible partnerships with like-minded countries forming coalitions of the able and willing.”
Such arrangements, he said, would help states “bridge gaps, test ideas, find paths in new and uncharted territories.”
Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff General Jennie Carignan said Canadian forces were widening their presence in the region.
She said Canada was working with Japan and the Philippines on cybersecurity and maritime exercises, while also helping Indonesian counterparts with English-language training.
“There is a lot of work to do in the Indo-Pacific region. And I think this is why we are seeing probably an increase of partnership across the board,” Carignan told Reuters.
New Zealand is also looking at closer defence cooperation and new military hardware.
Defence Minister Chris Penk confirmed that Wellington was actively considering Japanese and British vessels to replace its ageing ANZAC-class frigates.
Penk, who took office in April, joined counterparts from Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and Britain for dinner on the sidelines of the dialogue as they discussed expanding cooperation under the 54-year-old Five-Powered
Defence Arrangement. He said there was room for the pact to continue “at a more intense level”.
“And so if we can find new ways to interact with others as well as maintaining those existing connections, then we will look to do that at the same time,” Penk said in an interview.
Despite the growing effort by regional countries to tighten defence ties among themselves, Asian officials stressed that they still viewed the US commitment to the Indo-Pacific as firm.
They said Washington’s involvement in the Middle East conflict and President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy had not shaken their confidence.
“Our confidence is not swayed by reason of the involvement of the United States in Iran, for example, and in other areas,” Teodoro said.
Australia also underlined the centrality of its alliance with Washington. Defence Minister Richard Marles described ties with the United States as “absolutely fundamental to our national security”.
“For both of us, the Trump administration and the Albanese government in Australia, we see ourselves as stewards of a relationship which goes well beyond us,” Marles told Reuters.
