Asia’s Top Defence Summit Begins
Security teams and high-level personnel arrived at Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel throughout Friday to kick off Asia’s premier three-day defence summit – the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue 2026, which will bring together 44 countries in attendance from across the Asia-Pacific and beyond.
Footage shows US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth arriving at the hotel ahead of meetings. Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles and members of the Philippine armed forces were also spotted at the venue.
Hegseth reaffirmed strong Singapore-US ties during a call with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Friday before boarding the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship currently docked in Singapore.
He is scheduled to speak at a plenary session titled ‘United States’ Strategy for Peace in the Indo-Pacific’ on Saturday.
Critical Discussions on Regional Security
Widely recognised as the region’s largest security summit, this year’s IISS Shangri-La Dialogue arrives at a critical geopolitical juncture, offering a platform to challenge the traditional superpower duopoly of Washington and Beijing.
It will bring together government figures, business chiefs and security experts to discuss a range of security issues in the Indo-Pacific, including tensions on the Korean Peninsula, in the South China Sea, and over Taiwan.
It will run in Singapore on May 29-31.
Article by Viory
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