LIVE: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Speaks At ASEAN Defence Ministers' meeting In Malaysia

about the security challenges in the region. And I meant what I said. Sometimes the world forgets, people forget the United States is a Pacific nation. We have long had Pacific allies and interests and we see the world that way. The groundbreaking KL Accords and the support you provided to a number of our teams demonstrates ASEAN's willingness and capacity to act. I think President Trump is showing and living and fulfilling what you said. The custodian of global peace carries that mantle, lives that mantle, executes that mantle, and we're proud to do so on his behalf. The United States will continue to be with you. And to that end, we authorized USAID OPECOM to support ASEAN with over $10 million in logistic support services and maritime security. And I welcome all of you who live in the South China Sea and the thoughts that frame our discussion. As many of you at the Shangri-La Dialogue noted in my remarks that China's behavior towards neighbors and the world is a wake-up call, which it is. Shared examples of intimidation, harassment, and illegal activities occurring within your sovereign waters and across the South China Sea. Unfortunately, in the months since then, China's destabilizing actions have only increased. You've seen it, the world has seen it, it's on videotape. Some of you have been receiving and ramming and blasting water cannons and ships that there's a trespass going on. Unlawfully claiming jurisdiction over waters that are not theirs to claim. Attempting to regulate and limit peaceful, peaceful military actions by other nations. Even the location of the ADMN Plus Maritime Exercise Schedule Corps next year. And we recently saw Beijing's unjustifiable claim of Scarborough Reef as a, quote, nature reserve. Again, you don't put platforms on nature reserves. And yet another attempt to coerce you and advance territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea at your expense. As I also had a chance to say at the Shangri-La Dialogue, China's provocative actions also demonstrate a lack of respect for your country's challenging and threatening territorial sovereignty. China's sweeping territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea fly in the face of their commitments to resolve disputes peacefully. I will say I welcome the dialogue obviously both our presidents, President Trump and Chairman Xi have had, both myself and Dong Jun. Here, the opportunity to talk is something we value. We will continue. Dialogue is important. But inside that dialogue we are most importantly watching actions very closely. We seek peace. We do not seek conflict. But we must ensure that China is not seeking to dominate you or anybody else. As ASEAN members, we would urge that this group continue to work toward that code of conduct in the South China Sea. Remembering that a code without the ability to back it up with actions can just be empty words. So to act, we need to develop our joint capabilities to respond. This includes being able to monitor maritime conduct and develop the tools that allow us to respond quickly to actions that threaten the South. We commit to building shared maritime domain awareness, including in the South China Sea. Developing a common operating picture where threats to one are known by all goes a long way in ensuring that whoever is on the receiving end of aggression and provocation is then therefore by definition not alone. In the last several years we've seen a technological revolution in the tools that enable greater maritime domain awareness. No one can innovate and scale like the United States of America and we're eager to share those capabilities with allies and partners. Unmanned aircraft and surface and undersea vessels are supplementing and sometimes replacing the ships and planes for this task. These and other technological advances are creating remarkable operational impacts at lower cost and risk to your forces and our forces. Let them feel the operational concepts in the unmanned systems that can enable greater awareness in the maritime domain. We're stronger in the tools and the skills that we have are wielded together. But we're taking other steps as well. For example, we look forward to conducting the ASEAN U.S. Maritime Exercise the AUMX this December and we're grateful to our Indonesian partners for coming with us. This exercise will allow us to increase interoperability and practice implementing principles such as freedom of navigation and basic rights of all sovereign nations. Thank you for allowing us the platform to be here with this group to further the discussion. We're interested in hearing everyone's perspectives. I think it's important that this region hears from the United States, from President Trump, from myself. Yes, we are pursuing peace and strength. The compass we have is oriented on common sense and we are implementing America first. But America first does not mean America alone. It means with our allies and partners able to uphold stability, security, freedom of navigation and ultimately peace. President Trump seeks peace. We are the strength department of peace and strength as are you and your militaries. The more we work together the more we exercise together and operate together the more stability we achieve. Thank you, Mr. President. It's nice to hear you loud and clear. Mr. President, thank you very much for hosting this entire meeting that's necessary, important and I appreciate the opportunity to meet all of you again. This informal meeting gives us a chance to think open and frankly about the security challenges in the region. I meant what I said. Sometimes the world forgets, people forget the United States is a Pacific nation. We've long had Pacific allies and interests and we see the world that way. The groundbreaking KL Accords and the support you've provided to the Gerber team has demonstrated ASEAN's willingness to pass on living and fulfilling what you said, the custodian of global peace. President Trump carries that mantle, lives that mantle, executes that mantle and we're proud to continue to be with you. And to that end, we authorize USAID OPECOM to support ASEAN and the Gerber team with up to $10 million in logistic support services to live it on the threats we all face from China's main coercive actions in the South China Sea and elsewhere in discussion. To many of you, the Shangri-La dialogue I noted in my remarks, that China's behavior toward its neighbors and the world is a wake-up call, which it is. Shared examples of intimidation, harassment and illegal activities occurring within your sovereign waters and across the South China Sea. Unfortunate amongst since then, China's destabilizing actions have only increased. You've seen it. The world has seen it. It's on videotape. Some of you have been on the active and receiving end of it. Ramming and blasting water cannons and ships and facelessly claiming that there's trespassing going on. Unclaiming jurisdiction over waters that are not theirs to claim. Attempting to regulate and limit peaceful military actions by other nations. Even the location of the ADMM-plus maritime exercise scheduled for next year. We recently saw Beijing's unjustifiable claim of Scarborough Reef as a nature reserve. Again, you don't put platforms on nature reserves. Yet another attempt to coerce you and advance territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea at your expense. As I also had a chance to say at the Shangri-La Dialogue, China's provocative actions also demonstrate a lack of respect for your country's challenging and threatening territorial soft. Kind of sweeping territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea lie in the face of their commitments to resolve disputes peacefully. I will say I welcome the dialogue, obviously both our presidents, President Trump and Chairman Xi have had, both myself and Dong Jun here. The opportunity to talk is something we value and we will continue. Dialogue is important. But inside that dialogue, we are most importantly watching action. We seek peace. We do not seek conflict. But we must ensure that China is not seeking to dominate you or anybody else. As ASEAN members, we would urge that this group continue to work toward that code of conduct in the South China Sea, remembering that a code without the ability to back it up with action can just be empty words. To act, we need to develop our joint capabilities to respond. This includes being able to monitor maritime conduct and develop the tools that allow us to respond quickly to actions that threaten sovereignty. I propose that we commit to building shared maritime domain awareness including in the South China Sea. Developing a common operating picture where threats to one are known by all goes a long way to ensuring that whoever is on the receiving end of aggression and provocation is then therefore by definition not alone. In the last several years, we've seen a technological revolution in the tools that enable greater maritime domain awareness. No one can innovate and scale like the United States of America. And we're eager to share those capabilities with allies and partners. Unmanned aircraft and surface and undersea vessels are supplementing and sometimes replacing ships and planes for this task. These and other technological advances are creating remarkable operational impacts that lower cost and risk to your forces and our forces and field the operational unmanned systems that can enable greater awareness in the maritime domain. We're stronger in the tools and the skills that we have are wielded together. But we're taking other steps as well. For example, we look forward to conducting the ASEAN-U.S. Maritime Exercise, the AUMX, this December. And we're grateful to our Indonesian partners to help us with this. This exercise will allow us to increase interoperability and practice implementing principles such as creating basic rights for all sovereign nations. Ministers, thank you for allowing us the platform and the opportunity here with this group to further the discussion. We're interested in hearing everyone's perspectives. I think it's important that this region hears from the United States, from President Trump, from myself. Yes, we are pursuing peace and strength. The compass we have is oriented on common sense, and we are implementing America first. But America first does not mean America alone. It means with our allies and partners being able to uphold stability, security, freedom of navigation, and ultimately peace. President Trump seeks peace. We are the strength department of peace and strength, as are you and your militaries. The more we work together, the more we exercise together and operate together, the more stability and peace we will achieve. Thank you for this moment. Thank you.