Sec. Pete Hegseth delivered remarks on Wednesday at the CENTSEC 25 Opening Ceremony in Panama.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Privilege. As you know, the security of the hemisphere that we share is a top priority for
00:06President Trump and for the United States Department of Defense. The security threats
00:12that we face right now are real and they are present. But together we are making progress to
00:19stop mass illegal migration from around the world. We're making progress to stop violent cartels and
00:27criminal enterprises that are threatening our people and brutalizing our communities.
00:32And the era of capitulating to coercion by the communist Chinese is over.
00:40Their growing and adversarial control of strategic land and critical infrastructure in this hemisphere
00:47cannot and will not stand. To accomplish this, our countries cannot face these shared threats
00:56alone. We have to face them together. America will confront, will deter, and if necessary defeat
01:07these threats alongside all of you, our close and valued partners. Our mission is simple. Achieve peace
01:18through strength through an America first approach. We're doing this by restoring the warrior ethos,
01:24rebuilding our military, and re-establishing deterrence. And we're doing all of this right here in Central
01:32and South America. But as we state time and time again, America first does not mean America alone.
01:40Rather, putting America first means making our alliances and our partnerships make sense for the
01:48American people and for our friends. As President Trump often says, it's common sense.
01:55To put America first, we will put the Americas first. We will do this by confronting shared threats across this
02:06hemisphere. Serious threats that require a serious response. First, the United States will do whatever is necessary to achieve 100%
02:15operational control of our borders. Simply put, border security is national security. Something President Trump has and continues to deliver on.
02:31Border security in every country in this region is a shared challenge. And must be a shared priority for all of us. And I had a chance to spend time, as I mentioned, with multiple ministers last night, who are just as committed to the United States.
02:42To their own sovereignty and defense of their borders and assisting us in defense of ours. Second, the Trump administration understands that transnational cartels and gangs enable and profit from chaos.
02:58They terrorize our people in our communities. So President Trump has designated these groups as terrorist organizations. And we are unflinchingly treating these groups as terrorist organizations.
03:10Unflinchingly treating them as such. We also know that these same terrorist gangs and cartels, they profit from terrorizing your people and your communities. Cartels that ravage your lands.
03:26They control large swaths of territory in some of our countries. And their existence threatens yours and our sovereignty. Together, each for our own country.
03:39We will target and we will destroy those networks. And thank you again to every leader in this region cooperating with the United States to stop mass illegal migration and to accept returning migrants to your countries.
03:55And third, as we look beyond our hemisphere, we have to recognize the threat that China poses to our countries, to our people and to peace in this region.
04:06China based companies are capturing land, critical infrastructure and strategic sectors such as energy and telecommunications.
04:13China's military has too large of a presence in the Western Hemisphere.
04:21They operate military facilities and ground stations that extend their reach into space.
04:25They exploit natural natural resources and land to fuel China's global military ambitions.
04:38China's factory fishing fleets are stealing food from our nations and from our people.
04:46China's darüber, the褪 궁 interessants lead to Toutifatrain and good taxhabitude.
04:47跟我 с
04:50China's地�
04:53Make no mistake, Beijing is investing and operating in this region for military advantage and unfair economic gain.
04:59We do not seek war with China.
05:03And war with China is certainly not inevitable.
05:05We do not seek it in any form.
05:09not seek it in any form. But together, we must prevent war by robustly and vigorously deterring
05:20China's threats in this hemisphere. President Trump has made it clear that the Panama Canal
05:28and the canal areas cannot and will not be controlled by China. We are working closely
05:37with our partners in Panama to secure the canal and advance our mutual
05:43directing the United States Naval Ship Comfort, it's a hospital ship, to deploy to Panama and to
06:03several countries in the region later this year. We're also expanding training, military
06:10training, increased military education and exchanges, and conducting more, more robust
06:18joint exercises. We're going to increase cooperation to deter threats, to seize opportunities, to
06:27bolter our shared defense. That's what CENT SEC Panama 2025 is all about. Friends standing
06:38shoulder to shoulder with friends. That's the reason I'm proud to be the first Secretary of
06:45Defense to attend CENT SEC. The first to be in Panama in over two decades. President Trump
06:54has made our hemisphere, our friends, our borders, a high priority in his administration, and it will
07:03continue to be so. Like all of you, the United States wants a hemisphere of secure, prosperous and sovereign
07:12nations. This is not globalism or interventionism. Instead, this is a golden age of shared national interests.
07:24We want this to be a golden age for our countries and for this hemisphere. We want, in short,
07:33to also make the Americas great again. Together we will secure a prosperous and peaceful region for our
07:43people and a promising future for our kids and for our grandkids. Thank you and God bless all the countries
07:52God bless all the countries assembled here. Thank you.