Pete Hegseth, US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defence, told Congress on Tuesday that he would ensure the Pentagon recognised the Chinese Communist Party as “front and centre” among foreign threats to the US, in a confirmation hearing that largely focused on his character and past conduct.
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Hegseth refrained from surprising foreign policy comments in his four-hour hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, deflecting questions on Ukraine and stressing that he would advocate the “peace through strength” policy that the Trump transition team has emphasised.
Hegseth is the first of several Trump nominees scheduled to testify before Senate committees this week as the confirmation process gets under way. On Wednesday, Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for secretary of state, and John Ratcliffe, his choice for CIA director, are expected to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Intelligence Committee respectively.
In his opening remarks, Hegseth said that re-establishing deterrence was among his priorities, highlighting defending US borders and skies; working with allies and partners to deter aggression from China in the Indo-Pacific; and “responsibly” ending wars as key tenets of the approach.
The reorientation to the Indo-Pacific from the Middle East outlined in the Trump administration’s 2017 national defence strategy was “barely followed through on” by US President Joe Biden, Hegseth contended.
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Hegseth’s comments came after Trump’s statements while campaigning for re-election raised concerns among US allies and partners that the US would not come to their aid at a time of need. The Biden administration had made building alliances a focal point of its foreign policy.