NEW: U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, just confirmed the pause in Taiwan arms sales is not due to munitions conservation concerns owing to the conflict in the Middle East.
Hegseth: "Yeah, on the Taiwan arms sales I would decouple the two. We feel very good about our stockpiles, both how we use them and in Epic Fury, in this historic moment."
He added that "Hung Cao is fantastic, but I would not couple the two at all."