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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared early Wednesday that the US is “prepared” to go to war with China, hours after alarming threats from Beijing in response to President Trump’s stiff new tariffs.
“We’re prepared,” Hegseth said on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” in response to China saying it was “ready to fight” any “type of war.”
“Those who long for peace must prepare for war,” Hegseth said, stressing it was important to “be strong.”
“That’s why we’re rebuilding our military. That’s why we’re re-establishing deterrence in the warrior ethos. We live in a dangerous world with powerful, ascendant countries with very different ideology.”
“They’re rapidly increasing their defense spending, modern technology, they want to supplant the United States,” the defense sec continued.
“If we want to deter war with the Chinese or others, we have to be strong.”
Hegseth’s threat came after China declared late Tuesday they were ready to clap back if the US was bent on waging a trade or tariff war — soon after Trump’s initial 10% tariff on Chinese imports doubled to 20%.
“If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in a statement.
China swiftly retaliated against the fresh tariffs, announcing its own 10%-15% hikes to import levies covering a range of American agricultural and food products.
It also placed 25 US firms under export and investment restrictions on national security grounds.
Hegseth, meanwhile, later insisted Trump had a “great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the US would continue to push for “historic peace and historic opportunities.”
“My job as the secretary of defense is to make sure we’re ready,” he said.
“We need the defense spending, the capabilities, the weapons and the posture in the Indo Pacific, which is something we’re very much focused.”
With Post wires
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