China Rejects Foreign Interference After US Defense Secretary Omits Taiwan at Shangri-La Dialogue
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) has reiterated that the Taiwan issue is a matter of China’s internal affairs that brooks no foreign interference, following US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s notable omission of Taiwan from his keynote address at the 23rd Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
At a routine press conference on June 3, TAO spokesperson Zhu Fenglian responded to a journalist’s question about Hegseth’s May 30 speech, stating: “The Taiwan issue is China’s internal affair and brooks no foreign interference. Maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is the greatest common denominator between China and the US,” as reported by The Paper.
A Significant Rhetorical Shift
Hegseth’s speech, titled “America’s Indo-Pacific Peace Strategy,” marked a sharp departure from the previous year. In 2025, the US Defense Secretary mentioned Taiwan five times during his Shangri-La address. This year, he did not mention the island at all, instead praising the achievements of President Donald Trump’s recent state visit to China and repeatedly emphasizing a new defense posture described as “strong, quiet, clear.”
The omission comes against the backdrop of Trump’s May 14-15 visit to China, where he met with President Xi Jinping and the two sides agreed on a “constructive strategic stability relationship” — a formulation that, according to analysts, acknowledges China and the US as roughly equal powers. China News Service also covered Zhu Fenglian’s remarks on the matter.
Expert Analysis: A Historic Turning Point
Chinese international security expert Zhou Bo, a 13-time participant in the Shangri-La Dialogue, told Phoenix News that Hegseth’s silence on Taiwan was consistent with Trump’s deliberate downplaying of the issue during his China visit. “Hegseth not mentioning Taiwan at all is actually consistent with his boss Trump’s deliberate downplaying of the Taiwan issue during his visit to China,” Zhou said.
Zhou highlighted Trump’s comments on Air Force One while returning from China, where the president questioned why the US would travel 9,500 miles to intervene in a conflict over Taiwan and indicated he had not made a final decision on arms sales to the island. Zhou characterized this as a “historic turning point,” arguing that “from now on, the US will face increasing pressure in advancing arms sales to Taiwan.”
Broader Geopolitical Context
The shift in US rhetoric occurs amid a complex geopolitical landscape. The US is simultaneously engaged in military operations in the Middle East, and Hegseth used the forum to urge allies to increase defense spending to 3.5% of GDP. China, meanwhile, sent its lowest-level delegation to the forum in history, with no defense minister attending for the second consecutive year and no dedicated China session held.
Additional coverage from Jiemian and the China Taiwan Network confirmed the TAO’s consistent position that the Taiwan issue is China’s internal affair and that foreign interference will not be tolerated.
Implications for Cross-Strait Relations
The omission of Taiwan from the US Defense Secretary’s speech has been interpreted by Chinese analysts as a deliberate de-escalation signal, consistent with the improved tone in US-China relations following the Trump-Xi summit. However, the fundamental divergence between US strategic ambiguity on Taiwan and China’s sovereignty claims remains unresolved.
Zhou Bo noted that the changing power dynamics are driving this shift: “The reason is that China and the US are now essentially equal in strength.” He argued that the US now has more to lose than gain from confrontation over Taiwan, particularly as China’s military modernization continues with capabilities such as the Fujian aircraft carrier and J-35 fighter jet.
What to Watch For
Key questions remain as the situation develops. Will the US formally suspend or reduce arms sales to Taiwan following Trump’s ambiguous signals? How will Taiwan’s administration under Lai Ching-te respond to the apparent US de-escalation? And will China increase the frequency or scale of military exercises around the island as leverage?
For now, the Taiwan Affairs Office has made Beijing’s position clear: the Taiwan issue is non-negotiable, and any foreign interference will be met with firm opposition. The ball, as analysts suggest, is now in Washington’s court.