well , good morning everybody . It's
great to be back in Singapore . I was
here In July of 2021 to give
the double eye Fullerton lecture .
So john I'm starting to feel like a
regular but in all seriousness .
Thanks for having me back . I also want
to thank john for everything that does
to promote dialogue in this region .
And I want to thank our national host
Singapore for providing such a warm
welcome for all of us . It's
especially good to see Senior Minister
Tayo Minister Ong and
Minister Balakrishnan .
Now , this is my first time to
formally address a shangri la dialogue
as Secretary of defense and I'm glad to
have the chance to discuss many of my
government's policies , but I'm also
here to listen and to have some honest
discussions . Now . The simple
fact that this dialogue is back in
person is absolutely encouraging .
When I was here last year , my speech
was one of the first public gatherings
in Singapore as it was starting to
reopen after the terrible early months
of the pandemic . So
going from one loan keynote to this
bustling in person . Dialogue suggests
the strides that this region has made .
Now that's a great tribute to Prime
Minister lee in our hosts from
Singapore and Singapore has also helped
others around the world recover . It's
worked around the clock to produce life
saving medical supplies , including
test kits and ventilators and
protective gear and the United
States is deeply committed to getting
the whole world past this pandemic
since March of 2020 . We have provided
more than $19 billion dollars worldwide
to produce and deliver vaccines and to
spur global recovery . We're
proud to be the world's single largest
donor of vaccines And we've pledged to
distribute more than 1.2 billion
vaccine doses worldwide . Before this
year is out , we've already distributed
more than half a billion doses and we
won't let up . We're deeply committed
to helping this region hell recover and
rebuild because that's just what a
friend does . And let's face it ,
this pandemic has hit all of us where
we live , it , upended all of our
lives . It left tragedy and
disruption in its way . But
today we stand together at a moment
that carries the promise of renewal
and I hope that we'll all come out of
the pandemic with a broader perspective
on what lasting security means In the
21st century .
Now , the last time that I was in
Singapore , the theme of my speech was
the power of partnership . And so today
I want to talk about what that has
meant in action about how our
partnerships have grown even stronger
and about how we've moved together
toward our shared vision for the region ,
The journey that we've made together in
the past year only underscores a
basic truth in today's
interwoven world . We're stronger when
we find ways to come together
and as we do so we know that most
countries across the indo pacific share
a common vision in our people
share common dreams
over the past decade . Our allies and
partners across the region have written
core elements of this vision . Take
Prime Minister Kishida who has called
for quote , a free and open order
based on the rule of law , not mike .
And last month , at the first ever US
Asean special Summit in Washington ,
the United States and our Asean
partners declared our enduring
commitment to the principles of quote
an open , inclusive and rules base
regional architecture
and the quad leaders echoed that
commitment at their own summit less
than two weeks later .
That means a shared belief in
transparency . It also means a
dedication to openness and
accountability . It means a
commitment to freedom of the seas ,
skies and space and it
means an insistence that disputes be
resolved peacefully . We seek a
region free of aggression and bullying
and we seek a world that respects
territorial integrity and political
independence , a world that expands
human rights and human dignity
in the world in which all countries
large and small , are free to thrive
and to lawfully pursue their interests
free from coercion and intimidation .
Now we know the riptides that we face
from covid to cyber threats to nuclear
proliferation . And we feel the
headwinds from threats and intimidation
and the obsolete belief in a world
carved up into spheres and influence .
Now we are confident that we can steer
forward , but we can only do it
together . We all know the
challenges that this region faces the
pandemic climate change
nuclear threats from north Korea
coercion by larger states against their
smaller neighbors in cruelty and
violence from the from the regime in
Myanmar and threats in the gray zone .
These challenges demand shared
responsibility and common action .
And we must all reaffirm , reaffirm our
common commitment to uphold
international law , defend global norms
and oppose unilateral changes to the
status quo . You know ,
just last month , President biden was
in the region to reaffirm that these
principles matter . And he was also
here to underscore the depth of
american commitment to the security and
the prosperity of the indo pacific .
That commitment has grown over the
years and it is now the core organizing
principle of american national security
policy . Today
the indo pacific is our priority
theater of operations . Today , the
indo pacific is at the heart of
american grand strategy and today
senior american officials including the
president , the vice president , the
secretary of State , the national
security adviser and so many others
travel constantly in this region .
And today , american statecraft is
rooted in this reality . No
region will do more to set the
trajectory of the 21st century than
this one . And so the indo
pacific is our center of strategic
gravity and that's central to the
biden administration's forthcoming
national security strategy and to my
Department's national Defense strategy
and it's why the first regional
strategy that the biden administration
released was our indo pacific strategy .
As President biden said in May in Tokyo .
The United States is deeply invested in
the indo pacific , We're committed for
the long haul . Ready to champion our
vision for a positive future for the
region with our friends and partners .
You know that future will be written
not by any one country but by all the
peoples of the indo pacific .
And I'm proud that our unparalleled
network of alliances and partnerships
has only deepened since the last time
that I was in Singapore .
We've achieved an extraordinary amount
in the past 11 months and that
progress is rooted in working together .
You see it in the region's effort to
recover from the pandemic
and you see it in the rapid development
of the quad and in our new
trilateral aucas security partnership .
You see it in the launch of new climate
resilience efforts with Asean
and in our close partnership with
pacific island countries . You
see it in new opportunities for
cooperation among Japan , the Republic
of Korea and more and
in renewed complex military exercises
that deepen our interoperability and
strengthen the region's security ,
but not all the news in the past year
has been good . So I'd like to take a
few minutes to discuss the historic
crisis caused by the Russian invasion
of Ukraine Russia's
indefensible assault on a peaceful
neighbor has galvanized the world
and Putin's reckless war of choice has
reminded us all of the dangers of
undercutting an international order
rooted in rules and respect .
So we're meeting today at a moment of
great consequence for the whole unit
and not just for europe President
biden has been clear about the stakes
in the Ukraine crisis poses some
urgent questions for us all
do rules matter ? Does
sovereignty matter ? Does the
system that we have built together
matter ? I'm here
because I believe that it does and I'm
here because the rules based
international order matters just as
much in the indo pacific as it does in
europe . Now . Our
friends and partners also know that and
they understand that smaller countries
have a right to peacefully resolve
disputes with their larger neighbors .
And that's why Australia , Japan , new
Zealand the Republic of Korea and
others have rushed security assistance
to Ukraine . And it's why countries
across this region have spread
humanitarian aid to the to the
suffering Ukrainian people , including
vital contributions from Singapore ,
Thailand India and Vietnam .
So let's be clear ,
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is what
happens when oppressors trample the
rules that protect us all .
It's what happens when big powers
decide that their imperial appetites
matter more than the rights of their
peaceful neighbors . And it's a
preview of a possible world of chaos
and turmoil that none of us would want
to live in . So
we understand what we could lose . We
see the dangers of disorder .
So let's use this moment to come
together in common purpose .
Let's use this moment to strengthen the
rules based international order . And
let's use this moment to think about
the future that we all want .
That's really why I'm here today .
The United States stands firmly beside
our partners to ensure that we continue
moving towards that shared vision and
we will continue to do our part to
strengthen security in the indo pacific ,
you know , more members of the U . S .
Military are stationed here than in any
other part of the world . More than
300,000 of our men and women .
The president's fiscal year 2023 budget
Makes one of the largest investments in
history to preserve this region's
security And that includes $6.1
billion Pacific Deterrence Initiative ,
which will strengthen multilateral
information sharing and support
training and experimentation with our
partners . To stay at the cutting
edge . We must invest in innovation
across all domains including space and
cyberspace . So we recently made the
department's largest ever budget
request for research , research and
development More than $130 billion .
Meanwhile , we're working hard to
develop new capabilities that will
allow us to deter aggression even more
surely , including stealth aircraft ,
unmanned platforms and long range
precision fires . And we're on the
cusp of delivering prototypes for high
energy lasers that can counter missiles .
And we're developing integrated sensors
that operate at the intersection of
cyber e W . And radar communications .
And so all of this helps us to do even
even more to stand shoulder to shoulder
with our friends ,
our security alliances and partnerships
in the indo pacific are a profound
source of stability . So our
integrated deterrence in the region
will continue to center on our ties
with our proud treaty allies ,
Australia , Japan , the Philippines ,
South Korea and Thailand
and we remain unwavering in our mutual
defense commitments . At the same time
we're weaving , we're also weaving
closer ties with other partners and I'm
especially thinking of India , the
world's largest democracy . We
believe that its growing military
capability and technological prowess
can be a stabilizing force in the
region . And we're taking our defense
cooperation with Singapore Indonesia
and Vietnam to the next level
in the past year . My belief in the
strategic power of partnerships has
only deepened and that's at the
heart of President biden of the
President's indo pacific strategy .
Our work together helps ensure that all
countries in the region large and small
have a say in its future . It helps
ensure that the status quo can't be
disrupted in ways that harm all of our
security and it helps strengthen our
ability to find common solutions the
common challenges .
So I wanted to highlight three key ways
in which we've been working together
with our friends and partners over the
past year and how that's bringing us
closer to our shared vision , shared
vision for this region's future .
First we're working with our partners
and allies to ensure that they have the
right capabilities to defend their
interest and to deter aggression and to
thrive on their own terms .
Now as we invest in innovation in
America we are committed to bringing
our allies and partners along with us
and that means sharing the fruits of
our R . And D . Success . So we're
working with our friends to link our
defense industrial base is to integrate
our supply chains and even co produce
some key technologies . Last
year the department launched the rapid
defense experimentation reserve to
quickly get promising technology and
prototypes into the hands of our war
fighters . And we're working even more
closely with trusted partners as we
test game to game changing technologies
together . And that's another
reason why our new security partnership
with Australia and the U . K . Is so
important . Aucas won't
just deliver nuclear powered submarines .
It holds a promise of progress across a
range of emerging tech areas that can
bolster our deterrence from ai to
hypersonic emerging
technology is crucial to
prosperity . Also
to maintain the region's access to this
sort of critical technology . We need
to keep its supply chains secure . And
that's central to our new Indo Pacific
Economic Framework which President
Biden recently launched with 12
partners from across the region ,
including many partners here in
Southeast Asia . Now , I'm also very
proud of our progress with our partners
this past year in a second important
area and that area is
exercises and training that
expands our common readiness . It
deepens our interoperability and it
helps defend the principles that we
share . So we stepped
up the complexity , the jointness and
the scale of our combined exercises
with our allies and partners take our
keen sword exercises with Japan which
this year used existing and
emerging capabilities in a far more
integrated manner . Or take our
talisman saber exercise with Australia ,
which was joined last time by Canada
japan , new Zealand the UK and for the
first time , the Republic of Korea
in april the United States and the
Philippines held our annual ballot
catan exercise . It was our 37th
time and the largest and most most
complex iteration involving some 9000
troops . And last spring
the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier
strike group rotated through the indian
ocean and we conducted
simultaneous joint operations with the
indian navy and the indian air force
that integrated air power and anti
submarine warfare .
We're also finding new ways for our
friends to operate together and looking
for new constellations of partners
including good friends from europe and
beyond . Just think of
la peruse and exercise last spring with
navies from Australia France , India
and Japan or consider
Garuda shield our annual bi bi lateral
exercise with Indonesia . In this
august for the first time we're
expanding it It will now include
a total of 14 participating countries
including Australia . Canada Japan
and Singapore and later this month will
host the 28th iteration of rimpac
Forces from 26 countries With 38
ships and nearly 25,000 personnel will
gather along US shore's for the world's
largest naval exercise .
Now we're also working more closely
with our partners in ways that aren't
quite so visible and that includes
tackling gray zone actions that chip
away at international laws and norms .
And we're bringing the full we're
bringing to bear the full resources of
the US government to do so . And that
includes unprecedented Coast Guard
investments in the indo pacific . And
I'm proud to say that the Coast Guard's
new outstanding commandant at Olinda
Fagan is here with us in Singapore .
And within her first two weeks on the
job that I might add , you know , it's
the first time that a U . S . Coast
Guard commandant has joined us at the
Shangri La dialogue and it's a sign of
how important Southeast Asia is to
the Coast Guard . Next year , our Coast
Guard will also deploy a cutter to
Southeast Asia and Oceana . And that
will open up new opportunities for
multinational crewing training and
cooperation across the region . And it
will be the first major U . S . Coast
Guard cutter permanently stationed in
the region .
And that brings me to a third important
aspect of our common efforts to defend
our shared principles
more and more . We're working in new
and flexible and custom made ways with
our friends and our partners are
doing the same thing with one another .
Even as we strengthen our commitment to
Asean centrality and its leading place
in the regional architecture and that's
meant the rise of nimble and flexible
security networks that adds stability
to the region . You see this trend in
new , important , important new
discussions about regional security
with different groups of partners ,
talking together about shared
challenges and working together in new
ways . Since 2015 , Australia ,
India and Japan have been holding
security dialogues about maritime
security cooperation . In just the past
few months , Japan and the Philippines
launched a new 2-plus 2 dialogue and so
did Australia and India . Our
trilateral defense cooperation with
Australia and Japan remains pivotal and
we continue to integrate our three
militaries in key areas . I
was also glad to attend the A . D . M .
M . Plus last year and I look forward
to meeting with Asean defense Ministers
again this fall and meanwhile
Over the past 18 months we've helped to
bring new vigor to the quad . That
includes a third quad Leaders Summit
last month bringing together four other
regions largest largest producers of
prosperity and security . And as the
quad leaders have noted , they are
eager to work with Asean and the
pacific islands to advance our shared
goals . We're also working together
to make the region's security
architecture more transparent and more
inclusive . So think of the new indo
pacific partnership for maritime domain
awareness which President biden
announced in Tokyo last month .
Now this important initiative aims to
provide better access to space based
and maritime domain awareness . Two
countries across the region , including
here in Southeast Asia . And this new
partnership will harness together
regional information centers that will
help us build a common operating
picture and work together to tackle
illegal fishing and other gray zone
activities in
today's interconnected world . We're
also seeing new ways to support our
european security partners growing
engagement in the indo pacific . So
we'll keep expanding our consultations
with european countries on regional
security issues . It will deepen and
widen the dialogue and corporation
among NATO and our core indo pacific
allies . You know , several of our
european allies have been deploying to
the indo pacific and operating
alongside our partners here in
unprecedented ways . United Kingdom
made history last year with this
deployment of the HMS Queen Elizabeth
as part of a multinational carrier
strike group that included a US
destroyer , An American Marine Corps F
35 Squadron . And so it was
a significant accomplishment .
Such deployments send a message of
strength and stability and that's
deeply important for all the peoples of
the region . And it's especially
important given the challenges to
security and stability in the indo
pacific as our
national Security National Defense
Strategy notes , we all face a
persistent threat from North Korea .
United States will stand ready ,
always stand ready to deter aggression
and to uphold our treaty commitments to
the and and the will of the U . N .
Security Council . North Korea's
habitual provocations and missile tests
only underscore the urgency of our task .
And so we're deepening the security
corporation among the United States ,
Japan and the Republic of Korea .
Together , we will continue to
strengthen our extended deterrence
against nuclear arms and ballistic
missile systems . And we remain open to
future diplomacy and fully prepared to
deter and to and to defeat future
aggression will also stand by our
friends as they uphold their rights .
And that's especially important
as a P . R . C . Adopts a more coercive
an aggressive approach to its
territorial claims . In the east china
sea . The PRC is expanding fishing
fleet is sparking tensions with his
neighbors in the south china sea . The
PRC is using outpost on manmade islands
bristling with advanced weaponry to
advance . It's illegal maritime claims .
We're seeing PRC vessels plunder the
region's provisions operating illegally
within the territorial waters of other
indo pacific indo pacific countries .
And further to the west , we see
Beijing continue to harden its position
along the border that it shares with
India . You know , indo pacific
countries shouldn't face political
intimidation , economic coercion
or harassment by maritime militias .
So the Department of Defense will
maintain our active presence across the
indo pacific We will continue to
support the 2016 Arbitral Tribunal
ruling and we will fly sail and
operate wherever international law
allows and we'll do
this right alongside our partners
and will continue to be candid about
the challenges that we all face .
We've seen an alarming increase in the
number of unsafe aerial intercepts and
confrontations at sea by Pl Pl aircraft
and vessels in february .
A pla navy ship directed a laser and an
Australian P eight maritime patrol
aircraft , seriously endangering
everyone on board . And in the past few
weeks ,
fighters have conducted a series of
dangerous intercepts of allied aircraft
operating lawfully in the east china
and south china seas . Now this should
worry us all and the stakes are
especially stark in the Taiwan strait .
Our policy is unchanged and unwavering .
It has been consistent across
administrations and we are determined
to uphold the status quo that has
served this region so well for so long .
So let me be clear , We remain
firmly committed to our long standing
one China policy guided by the Taiwan
relations Act , The three joint
communiques and the six assurances .
We categorically oppose any unilateral
changes to the status quo from either
side and we do not support Taiwan
independence and we stand firmly behind
the principle that cross strait
differences must be resolved by
peaceful means .
Now , as a part of our one china policy ,
we will continue to fulfill our
commitments under the Taiwan Relations
Act and that includes assisting Taiwan
and maintaining a sufficient self
defense capability . And it means
maintaining our own capacity to resist
any use of force or other forms of
coercion that would jeopardize the
security or the social or economic
system of the people of Taiwan . So
our policy hasn't changed . But
unfortunately that doesn't seem to be
true for the P . R . C . As my friend
Secretary of State Blinken has also
noted , we see growing coercion from
Beijing . We've witnessed a
steady increase in provocative and
destabilizing military activity near
Taiwan and that includes
aircraft flying near Taiwan in record
numbers in recent months and nearly on
a daily basis . And we remain focused
on maintaining peace stability and the
status quo across across the Taiwan
strait . But the P . R . C . S .
Moves threatened to undermine security
and stability and prosperity in the
indo pacific and that's crucial
for this region and it's crucial for
the wider world maintaining peace and
stability across the Taiwan strait
isn't just a U . S . Interest , it's a
matter of matter of international
concern . So let me be
clear we do not seek
confrontation or conflict and we do not
seek a new Cold war . An asian NATO
or a region split into hostile blocs .
We will defend our interests without
flinching but we'll also work toward
our vision and for this region one of
expanding security one of
increased uh cooperation and not one
of growing division . And I continue to
believe that big powers carry big
responsibilities and so we will do
our part to manage these tensions
responsibly and to prevent conflict and
to pursue peace and prosperity . And as
I said in Singapore last year great
powers should be models of transparency
and communication . So we're working
closely with both our competitors and
our friends to strengthen the
guardrails against conflict . And that
includes fully open lines of
communication with China's defense
leaders to ensure that we can avoid any
miscalculations . And these are
deeply , deeply important conversations .
The United States is fully committed to
during our part and that's
why I'm here today . I am proud of our
commitment to this region . I'm proud
of our unmatched and unrivaled network
of allies and partners . I'm proud of
our commitment to openness and human
dignity . You know , in recent
decades , we become even more inclusive
in our approach to the indo pacific
We've expanded our cooperation with our
allies and partners and we've worked in
tandem with new and existing regional
institutions and all of that builds new
habits of cooperation across this
region and it builds on old friendships
in the indo pacific . Going back for
many , many decades , we seek
inclusion not division .
We seek cooperation and not strife
and that means we're following the wise
counsel from Prime Minister Lee
who argues that nobody should
force binary choices on the region .
He's right . Our fellow indo pacific
nations should be free to choose
free to prosper and free to chart their
own course . Ladies and gentlemen ,
this region has already cast its vote
on what kind of a future it seeks .
It's an interconnected and optimistic
future . One rooted in the rule of law
and a profound commitment to freedom
and openness and it's a future that we
can only make real by working together
As President Kennedy put it back in
1962 . Okay ,
acting on our own by ourselves . We
cannot establish justice throughout the
world or provide for his common
defense or promote its general
welfare . But join with other free
nations , we can do all this and more
and ultimately we can help to achieve a
world of law and of free choice .
Banishing the world of war and coercion .
Now , that's a vision worth working for .
It's a vision grounded in the best
traditions of the United States and
it's a vision that reaches for the
highest aspirations for the indo
pacific . We don't believe
that this vision can be imposed , but
we do believe that it can be achieved
by working together by listening to one
another and by acting as good friends
and good neighbors and by
again showing the world the
power of partnership . It's great to
be here with all of you . Thank you
very much . Yeah .
Okay . Yeah .
Thank you very much . Mr Secretary .
That's one of the strongest statements
we've heard from this podium . A clear
declaration that american strategy is
rooted in the indo pacific which is the
center of gravity of its strategic
effort . A specific assertion that
sharing the fruits of your R and D .
Success with allies and partners and
testing game changing technologies with
each other is an important priority .
And I think everybody will have taken
note also of your concluding remarks
that no country should be forced to
make binary choices . Thank you very
much for that . And all the other
things that were in your remarks , I
have a number of people who have asked
the floor and I'll turn to them in a
group shortly . I just want to ask the
secretary one question before I go back
to the floor . So we deal with that
other issue in the world that is now
occupying so many people's minds .
Secretary , often when you were in
centcom , one of your big duties was to
ensure the straits of Hormuz would be
open so that oil could flow through it .
And indeed often it was argued that
America's Middle East strategy was
linked to its indo pacific strategy
because without being able to keep the
straits of hormones open agents
wouldn't be able to benefit from the
oil that was produced and sold from
there . Now in the Black Sea , you have
22 million tons of grains , many of
which will be going to countries in
this region or should be going for
example , to Indonesia . And as a
consequence of the war , the Black Sea
is effectively closed . There are many
efforts of negotiation with Russia and
Ukraine and others to seek a way to
opening that . But given that that's
such an important humanitarian
necessity . Can you envision a role for
navies in the military to support the
humanitarian effort to ensure that
humanitarian traffic grains can flow
from the ports in the Black Sea to
other places in the world ? Well , let
me just say that this is a very
important issue and one that leaders in
the region and across the globe are
focused on um when you ask whether or
not the our militaries of the region
and the world can add value of course
we can . But you know , we would always
want to seek a diplomatic solution
first and I see a lot of energy
in that in that area ongoing as we
speak . And we would hope that uh that
the right things happen , you know ,
But this , this didn't have to happen .
We are here because of the choice of
one man , the choice of Vladimir Putin ,
he chose to invade his neighbor
unprovoked invasion . This was
not based on any kind of um any kind of
logic or reason and we see the
consequences of of actions like that .
And so I think that's uh that reminds
us of how important the rules based
international order is . Alternative
four take three or four in a group
first from the Republic of Korea . Uh
chung min lee ,
thank you Mr Secretary , my question to
you is as we speak Russian and chinese
bombers are intruding into korean and
japanese air defense identification
zones . And as a result , one of the
reasons why at the end of this month ,
at the Madrid summit , the leaders of
Korea japan Australia and new Zealand
will be participating in need of
something for the first time . What can
your close allies do here in the region
to augment european security and vice
versa . Thank you very much . I didn't
hear the end of that . What could we do
to my question was what can your four
closest allies during the region to
augment european security ? Because the
leaders of Korea , Japan Australia and
new Zealand will be participating in
the NATO summit in Madrid this june .
Well I mean there's first of all um
countries from this region , as you
heard me say earlier , have been very
supportive of the effort uh in
in europe thus far they've provided uh
a number of countries have provided
security assistance and in other
countries have provided humanitarian
assistance and and this is very very
important . You've seen me pull
together ministers of defense
from across the globe quite frankly ,
to focus on uh huh those things that we
can do to continue to help Ukraine as
it struggles to to defend its sovereign
territory and I say struggle . But but
quite frankly we're all proud of the
work that the Ukrainians have done . Uh
they are absolutely inspiring in terms
of uh their their commitment to their
democracy , their will to defend their
land . Uh and I think there's a great
lessons to be learned from uh from from
that for all of us in terms of their
commitment . But but again , I will
host another one of those meetings Uh
in about a week as I go to Brussels .
Uh we started out with 40 countries
contributing uh capability . Uh it grew
the next meeting to 47 countries and
now it's over 50 countries . Uh and
that shows you how how much uh the
global community cares about uh about
this issue and how much uh countries
around the world want want to help
Ukraine in its in its effort to defend
its sovereign territory . Thanks very
much . And next from the U . S . Bonnie
Glaser , if you can put up your hand as
well , it looks like your microphone is
working . Go ahead Bonnie thank you .
Secretary Austin . Um The most
dangerous potential conflict in the
indo pacific is a war in the Taiwan
strait that would arise from a chinese
attempt to seize Taiwan by force . And
President biden has recently said
repeated actually that he would defend
Taiwan if attacked . What are the steps
that the United States , our allies and
Taiwan need to take to bolster
deterrence so that peace and stability
in the Taiwan strait can be preserved .
Thank you . Thanks barney . Um
First of all you've heard me say and
heard number of a number of our leaders ,
senior leaders say that uh we think
that any unilateral change to the
status quo uh is would be
unwelcome and and ill advised . I would
just highlight that our policy on
Taiwan has not changed . We remain
committed to one china policy .
Uh and uh and we also remain committed
to uh providing Taiwan with the
military means to defend , defend
itself in accordance with the Taiwan
Relations Act . Uh And so I know that
countries across the region and across
the globe are really focused on this
issue . But I really , as I said in uh
in my in my remarks there really wanna
highlight that our Taiwan policy has
not changed and from the Philippines
again , put your hand up , Jeffrey or
Danielle , but it looks like your
microphone is working . So go ahead .
Uh thank you for the opportunity . Um
when china started building artificial
islands in the south China Sea , the
United States said that there would be
consequences . China completed those
artificial islands . Um The United
States also said that there would be
consequences if china militarized those
islands , China militarized those
islands anyway . Stationing bombers and
fighter jets . So I guess many of us
here are curious what will be different
in the biden administration's approach
to the south china sea because it seems
that the current policy is not working
or at least not changing the behavior
of china . Thank you . Yes . So some of
the consequences that we've seen is
that we've seen allies and partners
grow closer together and work together
in a more deliberate way on to make
sure that they they have the ability to
protect their interests at our
territorial waters . And I see and
we've seen again in the last couple of
years bonds continue to strengthen .
We've also seen , you know , like
minded countries bond together to , to
create new capabilities . So the effect
has been that , that it's had an effect
that there are some consequences and
those consequences are much more united
uh um region ,
region has focused ever so much more on
on a vision of free and indo and free
and open indo , pacific . So , so I
think I think there have been
consequences . And next from Singapore ,
Lynn , go ahead . Thank
thank you , john , thank you .
Secretary Austin . Um yesterday Prime
Minister Kishida cautioned that Ukraine
today , maybe East Asia tomorrow . Do
you share the Japanese Prime Minister's
concern ? And if so , why would it be
because of a general sense that Ukraine
reminds us that war anywhere is
possible and we should not be
complacent or perhaps because um the
United States has concrete concerns .
That China is like Russia because both
autocracies and will therefore act like
it . I would say , I would think it's
the former that , you know ,
anything is possible . And so , I mean ,
there's a reason that we have
the , you know , militaries to to
defend our sovereign territory . Uh and
so we need to be mindful of the fact
that those uh , those militaries , our
defenses need need the right kinds of
capabilities . Um , I go back
to what I , the questions that I asked
earlier do rules matter ,
The sovereignty matter . You know , is
this rules based international order
important to us ? I think the answer to
that question is yes . I think it's
it's been remarkable to see the global
response as a result of Russia's uh
unprovoked invasion of Ukraine . Uh
there's strong indication across this
globe around this globe that that
countries around the globe truly
value the international rules based
order and adherence to that order . So
I think there's a there's a powerful
lesson there from Stefan . Got the last
question . Thank you . John mr
Secretary , you mentioned game changing
technologies in your speech . Could you
perhaps elaborate what technology
specifically you have in mind here ?
And furthermore , do you foresee any
changes in U . S . Force posture in the
region as a result of these game
changing technologies in the near to
medium term ? Thank you . Thanks Ron
Stefan . No , I won't go into any
detail on on emerging
technologies only to say that , you
know , we continue to invest A
substantial amount of our our budget ,
our defense budget , you heard me say
$130 $230 billion dollars um
dedicated to uh R . D . T . And
research and development . Uh we uh we
believe that in order to remain
relevant we have to make sure that
we're investing in the right kinds of
things to support the operational
concepts that we think are important in
any conflict that will employ in any
conflict going forward . I would just
say that it's important for us to
continue to work with our allies and
partners as we develop these
technologies . Uh and you heard me
commit to doing that in my remarks and
were serious about that . And so but I
don't I want to elaborate on any of the
specific technologies in this forum .
So we've closed this session according
to our clock with two seconds remaining .
I want to thank you very much ,
Secretary Austin and also to say that
we should actually draw comfort from
the fact that you can't say very much
about the emerging technologies that
you might be saying with allies and
partners because it implies those
technologies will be extremely valuable
to their security and to maintaining
peace and stability . In the asia
pacific , I've got 33 people on the
list , a couple of people still waving
their hands , but it's inevitable in a
session like this , especially with the
U . S . Secretary of Defense . There
will be more questions than time
available to answer them . Be reassured
that I will find you for the next
session . But for the meantime , please
thank Secretary often uh for his
plenary address to the shangri la
dialogue . Thank you very much . Mhm