The United States reacts to the parade in Beijing: Trump orders revival of army as Russia, China rapprochement

Due to the rapprochement between China and Russia, US President Donald Trump has ordered the US Department of Defense to "revive" the US armed forces and "be ready." This was stated by the head of the department Pete Hegseth in an interview to the American TV channel Fox News.

"Unfortunately, the weakness of the previous administration brought Russia and China closer together. This was a terrible consequence of the lack of American leadership and American strength, and you saw it all over the world, and it was manifested in what we saw last night [during the parade in China] on TV," the official said, reacting to the celebrations marking the end of World War II in Asia in the Chinese capital.

According to him, that's why Trump instructed the Defense Department to "be ready, revive our armed forces on a historic scale, restore morale and establish deterrence."

"Not because we want a conflict. We don't – and we've made that clear to China, Russia and other countries. It's because being prepared prevents conflict," explained Hegseth.

He added that demonstrations and parades "are good," but the United States hopes that they will not manifest themselves in the form of a real military conflict.

"So we know what they believe and who they are. We also know how strong we are and what military advantages we have. They also know this. Our task is to maintain these military advantages in space, in the air, at sea, underwater and with long-range weapons. All of our capabilities, "Golden Dome", that China knows it cannot replicate, and we will do so within this administration," the Pentagon chief added.

He noted that the US is going to maintain its strategic advantage. At the same time, Hughes added that Trump has a "great relationship" with Chinese President Xi Jinping and "will use that to hopefully find ways to cooperate."

"In any case, we will always be ready," the defense minister summarized.

• On September 3, Russian dictator Putin, his North Korean "counterpart" Kim Jong-un, and Chinese President Xi Jinping met publicly for the first time at a military parade in Beijing.
• Against this backdrop, Trump asked Xi Jinping to convey his "warmest wishes" to Putin and Yin, saying that the three countries were "conspiring" against the United States.