Singapore (CNN) The United States can't fully trust China until Beijing starts playing by the rules. That was the overarching message delivered by acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan at Asia's premier defense forum Saturday morning in Singapore. Beijing claims almost the entire 1.3 million square mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory and aggressively asserts its stake, with President Xi Jinping saying it will never give up "any inch of territory." US military officials, meanwhile, have vowed to continue enforcing a free and open Indo-Pacific. Shanahan said that the Indo-Pacific region was the US's most important theater from a security perspective.

Source: CNN June 01, 2019 03:55 UTC