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Shangri-La Dialogue: can Asia do ‘less Shangri-La, more ships, more subs’?

Shangri-La Dialogue: can Asia do ‘less Shangri-La, more ships, more subs’?
South China Morning Post Sunday 31 May 2026, 12:25 UTC By Jean Iau,Kolette Lim 1 min read
Key Points

As the Shangri-La Dialogue drew to a close on Sunday, two issues dominated discussions throughout the event: defence spending and the varying level of commitment of countries to maintain peace in the region after calls by Washington for its allies and others to pull their weight. Analysts said the 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product for defence spending proposed by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was not something that most Asean countries – aside from Singapore – could commit to.

As the Shangri-La Dialogue drew to a close on Sunday, two issues dominated discussions throughout the event: defence spending and the varying level of commitment of countries to maintain peace in the region after calls by Washington for its allies and others to pull their weight. Analysts said the 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product for defence spending proposed by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was not something that most Asean countries – aside from Singapore – could commit to. Hegseth...
Shangri-La Dialogue (ORG) Asia (LOCATION) the Shangri-La Dialogue (ORG) Washington (LOCATION) US Defence (ORG) Pete Hegseth (PERSON) Asean (LOCATION) Singapore (LOCATION) Hegseth (PERSON)
Originally published by South China Morning Post Read original →

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