U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth pledged to establish deterrence needed to prevent war along with South Korea, Japan, Australia, and the Philippines in the Indo-Pacific.

At a joint press conference in Manila on Friday following talks with his Filipino counterpart Gilberto Teodoro, Hegseth said the Trump administration intends to prioritize and shift the region in a way that is unprecedented to match the threats of the future.

The U.S. defense chief said the Trump administration is currently dealing with "many years of deferred maintenance and of weakness," in an apparent attack of the previous Biden administration, calling to "reestablish strength and deterrence in multiple places around the globe."

Hegseth, who is on his first tour of the Indo-Pacific region since taking office, is also scheduled to visit Japan.

However, a visit to South Korea has been excluded due to the political turmoil in the country following President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration in December.