Published: 4 Jun 2025

Authors: Hoang Thi Ha|William Choong

At his maiden Shangri-La Dialogue outing, the US Secretary of Defense laid out a stark and demanding vision for the region’s security. ASEAN and much of Southeast Asia did not feature in it.

At his inaugural appearance at last week’s 2025 Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD), US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivered an unvarnished message centred on hard power, that is, “deterrence by denial” against China, which he cast explicitly as the US’ foremost threat. Hegseth said US President Donald Trump’s administration is steering US defence policy “back to basics”, anchored in what he called “common sense”. Do these “basics” make common sense to this region, where strategic nuance and cooperative security are part of the landscape?

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