US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth asked Australia to increase its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product during a meeting with Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles, the Pentagon said on Sunday.
The defence chiefs also discussed security issues including accelerating US defence capabilities in Australia, advancing defence industrial base cooperation and creating supply chain resilience, the Defence Department said in a statement.
“On defence spending, Secretary Hegseth conveyed that Australia should increase its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of its GDP as soon as possible,” the statement said.
The ministers’ meeting in Singapore on Friday on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier security forum, is only the second between the security allies since US President Donald Trump took office in January.
Marles said after the meeting they did not discuss a specific percentage of GDP to raise Australian defence spending.
Meanwhile, China’s defence ministry on Sunday condemned the United States for using the Shangri-La dialogue to “create disputes, sow discord, provoke confrontation and seek selfish interests” after Hegseth called China a threat in the Indo-Pacific.
