The United States will "stoutly defend its interests", Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Chinese counterpart Dong Jun during a meeting on Friday in Kuala Lumpur, flagging the importance of maintaining a balance of power in the region.

China’s defense ministry issued a cautious response, emphasizing its longstanding positions. Dong Jun stressed the reunification of China and Taiwan is an “unstoppable historical trend” and urged the U.S. to be cautious in its words and actions on the Taiwan issue, the statement said.

The speech that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will give to hundreds of generals and admirals next week will be about the "warrior ethos" of the military, sources say.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave an unusual speech last month to top brass — ordering nearly 800 admirals and generals to Quantico, Virginia — in which he railed against “woke” ideology and hyped the recently rebranded Department of War.

A day before the federal government shut down this month, a senior Pentagon official signed a memo that could make it easier for the Defense Department to fire employees.

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has praised Malaysia’s Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin for his leadership and commitment

The summit’s agenda was devoted to developing “operational collaboration” between Pacific militaries to face “new trends in security challenges,” targeting China.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke on Friday with counterparts from China and India, beginning a series of face-to-face meetings at an ASEAN defence summit in Malaysia, as Washington seeks to boost regional security ties.