US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says “Asia/Pacific,” not Ukraine, is America’s primary concern. Lloyd Austin delivered a speech at the Asian Security Conference, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.
Austin stated, “The Asia-Pacific region is the center of strategic gravity for the United States,” “the heart of American grand strategy,” and “the priority theater of operations.” Chinese officials reacted to his speech with outrage.
The comments also shocked people who thought Ukraine was America’s primary strategic interest right now. A place where the American government has pledged well over $50 billion in weapons and aid during the past four months. US support for Ukraine has also caused huge delays in delivering American weapons purchased by Taiwan. Deliveries of artillery, stingers, and anti-tank weapons initially scheduled to begin in 2023 have been postponed to as late as 2026.
Previously, Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs Mark Miley held a press conference on Ukraine. The duo hung their Ukrainian flags upside down! Even though the Ukrainian flag is easy to get right since the blue represents the sky. Recently, the pair told a reporter that the Ukrainian war would end in a negotiated peace. According to Austin and Milley, sending American weapons to Ukraine only increased Ukraine’s leverage at the negotiation table. They conceded that they had no specific plan or goals for how the war would conclude or how this negotiated peace with Russia would look.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky also delivered a speech, via zoom, at the Asian Security Conference in Singapore.
