China warns US not to ‘play with fire’ on Taiwan as Hegseth brands Beijing ‘imminent’ threat

China on Sunday accused Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth of attempting to “sow division” in Asia, issuing a fierce rebuke after the U.S. defense secretary said Beijing posed an “imminent” threat to the region and was gearing up to invade Taiwan.

Hegseth on Saturday said Beijing was “credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.” Any effort to invade Taiwan would “result in devastating consequences,” he added.

“There’s no reason to sugar coat it — the threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent,” Hegseth said at the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore.

Beijing’s foreign ministry said Hegseth had “vilified China with defamatory allegations” in a statement on Sunday. The U.S. “should not play with fire” on Taiwan, it warned.

Hegseth’s “remarks were filled with provocations and intended to sow division. China deplores and firmly opposes them and has protested strongly to the U.S.,” the ministry said.

The war of words comes amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing, as the two superpowers continue to face off in an escalating trade war. On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused China of violating a truce on tariffs.

Though Taiwan split from China amid civil war in 1949, Beijing considers the self-ruled island of 23 million its “sacred territory” and hasn’t ruled out the use of force in bringing the island under its control.

Australia pushed back against China’s criticism of Hegseth. “What we have seen from China is the single biggest increase in military capability and buildup in a conventional sense by any country since the end of the Second World War,” the country’s Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Sunday.

At the same time, China — which did not send its defense minister to the defense forum for the first time in several years — on Saturday announced it had sent out “combat readiness patrols” near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.