Singapore: U.S. Secretary of Defense Peter Heggs The United States on Saturday renewed its lashing out at Washington’s NATO and European partners, saying those countries that did not sufficiently increase defense spending “will face a significant shift in the way we do business.”NATO members pledged last year to increase defense-related spending to 5% of GDP, but despite more efforts, many countries have said they may not be able to meet that target.“For too long, our European allies have politely asked to spend more on their own defense, but those requests have fallen on deaf ears,” the Pentagon chief told a defense summit in Singapore.“They are finally catching up,” Hegseth said in a speech at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue conference.“Allies who refuse to step up and accept their own responsibility for our collective defense will face a stark shift in how we do business.”U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this month that NATO was facing U.S. troop reductions in Europe as Washington focused on other threats and European countries stepped up defenses.In Asia, Hegseth reiterated that the region’s security “is overly reliant on U.S. military power, while many of our allies and partners have allowed their own defense capabilities to wither.”Many countries in the Asia-Pacific region are indeed stepping up, Heggs said, pointing to South Korea as an example.“South Korea continues to invest in its defense because it does not have the luxury of treating war as an academic exercise.“They live on the front lines, so they build a real fighting force.”He said this “simply reflects a clear awareness of the threat environment”.Hegseth also praised the spending policies of other countries, including Australia, the Philippines and Japan.“You don’t have a strong coalition unless everyone is on board. You can’t just take it for free,” Hegseth said.When asked by New Zealand’s representative if he thought the Pacific island nation’s plan to increase defense spending from 1 to 2 percent was a “freeloader,” Heggs agreed.“Honestly, two percent is not enough, so two percent is free.“I don’t have anything against New Zealand, but I want partners to step up,” Hegseth said.
