Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Asia’s security leaders on Saturday that as Europe takes on more of its own defense, the United States would work more closely with Indo-Pacific allies. Together, he said, they would jointly build more weapons, expand training, and deter China from trying to seize disputed territory, including Taiwan.

美国国防部长皮特·海格塞斯周六对亚洲国家负责安全事务的领导人表示，随着欧洲承担更多的自身防务责任，美国将深化与印太地区盟友的合作。他说，双方将联合制造更多武器，扩大联合军演，遏制中国夺取包括台湾在内的有争议领土的企图。

“No one should doubt America’s commitment to our Indo-Pacific allies and partners,” Mr. Hegseth said, speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security forum in Singapore. “We will continue to wrap our arms around our friends and find new ways to work together.”

“任何人都不应该怀疑美国对我们的印太盟友和伙伴的承诺，”海格塞斯在新加坡举行的年度安全论坛香格里拉对话会上说。“我们将继续张开双臂拥抱我们的朋友，探索新的合作方式。”

Stronger bonds were needed, he added, saying: “The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent. We hope not, but it certainly could be.”

他还表示需要建立更牢固的联系，并表示：“中国构成的威胁是真实存在的，而且可能迫在眉睫。我们希望不是那样，但这种可能性确实存在。”

His comments outlined a familiar strategy. In a world rattled by President Trump’s tariffs and his scorn for Western allies, Mr. Hegseth confirmed that the Indo-Pacific remains a rare exception — a region where the United States favors continuity in security alliances more than disruption.

他的讲话揭示了一个熟悉的战略。在特朗普的关税政策和他对西方盟友的轻蔑态度引发全球震荡之际，海格塞斯让人确信印太地区仍是一个罕见的例外——在这里，美国更倾向于维持安全联盟的连续性，而非制造混乱。

In terms of actual defense policy, the approach Mr. Hegseth described largely echoed what his predecessor Lloyd J. Austin III laid out last year at the same forum.

就实际的国防政策而言，海格塞斯描述的做法与其前任劳埃德·奥斯汀三世去年在同一论坛上阐述的基本一致。

Mr. Hegseth spoke about efforts to disperse U.S. forces and abilities more widely through the region, citing the recent move of uncrewed anti-ship missile batteries to the outer islands of the Philippines close to Taiwan, the self-governed island that China claims as its own territory. He also described plans to deepen training with partners from India to Australia, and to do more shared production of weapons, like artillery shells and drones.

海格塞斯谈到了在该地区更广泛地部署美军及其作战能力的努力，并以最近将无人反舰导弹发射装置部署到靠近台湾的菲律宾外岛为例。中国声称台湾是其领土。他还描述了深化与印度、澳大利亚等合作伙伴的军事训练计划，以及进行更多的炮弹和无人机等武器的联合生产计划。

All of these efforts got their start before the second Trump term.

所有这些努力在特朗普第二个任期之前就已开始。

Some analysts saw inertia — what the Biden administration set in motion continues because Mr. Trump is focused elsewhere. But other experts and U.S. officials say that the approach Mr. Hegseth described reflects a bipartisan consensus of urgent concern about China’s military growth, which continues to stun Washington with its speed and scale, and a quiet recognition that America can deter China only with deeper alliances.

一些分析人士在海格塞斯的讲话中看到了政策惯性——由于特朗普政府关注其他优先事项，拜登时期启动的项目得以延续。但也有专家和美国官员认为，海格塞斯阐述的战略反映了两党对中国军事扩张迫切担忧的共识，这种扩张以其惊人的速度和规模在华盛顿持续引起震惊。两党也悄然认识到，美国只有通过深化同盟关系才能遏制中国。

“The U.S. needs more runways, more ports, more access to go where the Chinese are going, but also to have options in case big U.S. bases get hit with missiles,” said Michael J. Green, a former National Security Council official who now heads the United States Studies Center at the University of Sydney in Australia.

“美国不仅需要更多的跑道、更多的港口、更多的通道通往中国人正在去的地方，也需要在美国的大型基地遭到导弹袭击的情况下持有替代方案，”曾在美国国家安全委员会担任官员、现任澳大利亚悉尼大学美国研究中心主任的迈克尔·格林说。

“We can’t really operate without allies,” he added, “and they can’t really operate without us.”

“我们如果没有盟友的话真的无法行动，”他补充道，“他们如果没有我们的话也真的无法行动。”

在菲律宾举行的美菲联合军演，摄于今年5月。

And yet, as many officials in the region are quick to note, the Trump administration’s approach to these relationships has been disjointed and contradictory.

但正如该地区的许多官员立即指出的那样，特朗普政府对待这些盟友关系的态度始终充满反复与矛盾。

The White House has weakened the bonds of commerce through tariffs that threaten the economies of vital allies like Japan. Suspending visa interviews for foreign students has undermined good will. And Mr. Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine into a peace deal with Russia have raised anxiety in Taiwan about whether the United States could be relied on in a crisis.

白宫通过加征关税削弱了经贸纽带——这些关税措施正威胁着日本等重要盟友的经济安全。暂停外国学生的签证面谈也损害了美国的信誉。特朗普向乌克兰施压，让其与俄罗斯达成和平协议的努力，在台湾引起了人们对于危机时刻能否依赖美国的焦虑。

Many countries have incorporated distrust of America into their long-term plans.

许多国家已将对美国的不信任纳入了它们的长期规划。

“Too much has happened for the trust to be regained,” said Sarang Shidore, the director of the global south program at the Quincy Institute, a think tank in Washington.

“要重建信任，需要弥补的裂痕实在太多，”华盛顿智库昆西研究所全球南方项目主任萨让·希多尔说。

During a question-and-answer session, Mr. Hegseth dismissed concerns about the White House’s tariff campaign.

在问答环节，海格塞斯轻描淡写地回应了对于白宫关税行动的质疑。

“I’m happily in the business of tanks, not trade,” he said.

“我是管军事装备的，贸易不关我的事，”他说。

Mira Rapp-Hooper, a former National Security Council official in the Biden White House who worked on alliances in the Asia-Pacific region, said the Trump administration may be underestimating the impact of its assault on free trade.

米拉·拉普-胡珀曾在拜登政府担任国家安全委员会管理亚太同盟事务。她说，特朗普政府也许低估了打击自由贸易造成的影响。

“All of these countries have their own domestic politics,” said Ms. Rapp-Hooper, now a partner at the Asia Group. “And so the idea that the United States can just institute its tariff policy and not be super clear about its regional policy, and then just pick up when it wishes, I think will not turn out to be right.”

“所有这些国家都有各自的国内政治考量，”现任亚洲集团合伙人的拉普-胡珀说。“所以认为美国可以随意实施关税政策，却不对区域政策作出明确说明，然后还想着随时重启合作，我认为这种想法最终是行不通的。”

In his speech, Mr. Hegseth also noted that Mr. Trump would increase the U.S. defense budget to $1 trillion, arguing that Asian allies should spend more, and look to Europe for examples.

 海格塞斯在讲话中还指出，特朗普将把美国的国防预算增加到1万亿美元，并提出，亚洲的盟友们应该以欧洲为榜样，增加国防支出。

“NATO members are pledging to spend 5 percent of their G.D.P. on defense,” he said. “So it doesn’t make sense for countries in Europe to do that while key allies in Asia spend less on defense in the face of an even more formidable threat.”

“北约成员国正在承诺将它们GDP的5%用于国防，”他说。“所以，在欧洲国家这样做时，亚洲的主要盟友在一个更严峻的威胁面前不增加国防开支是毫无道理的。”

Mr. Hegseth made clear which threat he meant, referring repeatedly to “Communist China.”

海格塞斯对他所说的威胁非常明确，在讲话中多次提到“共产中国”。

周六，出席香格里拉对话会的中国军方官员。中国今年没有派高级代表团参加会议。

“We do not seek to dominate or strangle China, to encircle or provoke,” he told the gathered crowd of defense ministers. He also made a joke about Beijing failing to send a high-level delegation to Shangri-La — a rare absence from the forum. And he criticized China’s rapid military buildup, with “huge investments in nuclear weapons, hypersonics and amphibious assault capabilities.”

“我们不寻求支配或扼杀中国，也不需求围堵或挑衅中国，”他对出席论坛的各国国防部长说。他还调侃中国政府没派高级代表团参加香格里拉论坛——这是一次罕见的缺席。他批评中国迅速扩张的军力，以及“在核武器、高超音速武器，以及两栖攻击等能力上的巨额投资”。

“China seeks to become a hegemonic power in Asia, no doubt,” Mr. Hegseth said.

“毫无疑问，中国寻求成为亚洲的一个霸权国家，”海格塞斯说。

Chinese scholars expressed surprise at his tone. Da Wei, the director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing, described Mr. Hegseth’s statements as “very confrontational” and “very unfriendly.”

中国学者对他讲话的语气表示惊讶。清华大学战略与安全研究中心主任达巍称海格塞斯的言论“非常具有对抗性”，“非常不友好”。

Mostly, though, Mr. Hegseth seemed eager to reassure allies that Mr. Trump’s approach to the world included an important place for Asia. He cited a recent upgrade of the joint U.S.-Japan command structure, the deployment of new anti-missile defense systems across the region, and increased sharing of technology.

但海格塞斯似乎更急于表达的是让盟友们放心，特朗普的全球战略仍将亚洲置于重要地位。他举例说，美日联合指挥结构最近做了升级、在亚太地区部署新型反导防御系统，以及加强技术共享等。

“We want to empower you as partners, not dependents, to work more capably with the United States,” he said, adding, “America first certainly does not mean America alone.”

“我们想让你们有能力成为合作伙伴、而不是依附者，更有能力地与美国合作。”他还表示，“美国优先并不意味着美国单干。”

Analysts said Mr. Hegseth — and the Trump administration, for now at least — seems to recognize that the challenge in Asia looks very different from Europe or the Middle East.

分析人士指出，海格塞斯——至少就目前而言，特朗普政府亦然——似乎认识到了亚洲面临的挑战与欧洲或中东面临的不同。

China is more capable than any other U.S. adversary. Allies in Asia are less woven into American operations than those in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

中国比美国的其他任何对手都强大。亚洲盟友参与美国行动的程度不如北大西洋公约组织盟友的那样密切。

U.S. strategy in this vast theater covering more than half of the planet still consists mostly of bilateral treaties and a hub-and-spoke model from an age when American military dominance was unchallenged. In short, as American military officials in the region have argued for years, an upgrade is needed.

美国在这个巨大区域（该区域覆盖全球一半以上面积）的战略，仍主要依赖双边条约和中心辐射模型，该模型是美国的军事主导地位无可撼动的时代形成的。正如驻该地区的美军官员们多年来一直主张的那样，简单地说，美国的亚洲战略需要升级。

北京街头的一个大屏幕上正在播放中国人民解放军在台湾周边进行联合演习的新闻，摄于今年4月。

Ely Ratner, a former U.S. assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., suggested in a recent essay in Foreign Affairs that the United States and its allies in Asia should form a collective defense pact, similar to NATO. That would pose major challenges in an era of international distrust, however, when Americans are unsure about whether their nation should continue to play a major role in world affairs.

曾在拜登政府担任国防部印太安全事务助理部长的伊莱·拉特纳最近在《外交事务》杂志发表的一篇文章中提出，美国及其亚洲盟友应该组建一个类似北约的集体防御联盟。但在一个缺乏国际信任、美国人对自己的国家是否应该继续在世界事务中起重要作用犹豫不定的时代，那将是一个重大挑战。

In an interview, Mr. Ratner said the main question now was whether partners in the region would continue to accelerate their plans with the United States to deter and balance China.

拉特纳在一次采访中表示，现在的主要问题是亚太地区的合作伙伴是否会继续加快它们与美国合作的计划，以威慑和制衡中国。

“Staying in place won’t be enough,” he said. “They also need to be willing to do more, because China will not be staying in place.”

“只维持现状是不够的，”他说。“它们还需展现更强意愿，因为中国不会原地踏步。”

Mr. Hegseth’s message was similar.

海格塞斯也传递了类似的信息。

“We have to move quickly,” he said. “We have no time to waste.”

“我们必须迅速行动，”他说。“我们没有时间可以浪费。”