US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has warned of China posing an "imminent" threat to Taiwan, while urging Asian countries to boost defence spending and work with the US to deter war.

America reassured nervous Asian friends that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan was “neither imminent nor inevitable”. But in a dramatic shift on May 31st Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, said the Chinese threat “could be imminent”;

The defense secretary said Asia is the administration’s priority region.