US senator warns of Indo-Pacific risks as Hegseth stresses ‘quiet’ tactics

America’s latest defence strategy worryingly downgrades the importance of the Indo-Pacific, a US senator warned on Saturday, even as the Pentagon chief delivered a speech reassuring allies of commitment at a defence forum in Singapore. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a staunch critic of the US-Israeli war on Iran, told a media round table at the Shangri-La Dialogue that she was concerned the Trump administration was being distracted by conflict in other theatres that would dent commitment to the...