Advancing a Free and Open Indo-Pacific: USINDOPACOM Leadership Deepens Ties at Shangri-La

Adm. Samuel J. Paparo, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and Lt. Gen. George B. Rowell IV, deputy commander of USINDOPACOM, joined Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth and his delegation to meet with senior military and government officials from allied and partner nations to address global security challenges, deepen relationships, and strengthen partnerships at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, May 29–31, 2026.

Hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Shangri-La Dialogue is Asia’s annual defense and security summit. The forum brought together defense ministers, military chiefs, and security experts from more than 40 nations to address pressing Indo-Pacific security challenges and conduct high-level bilateral talks. Rowell spoke on the Shangri-La Dialogue panel “Enhancing Littoral Security in Asia,” where he outlined USINDOPACOM’s denial defense strategy along the first island chain, stressing that allied partnerships, distributed posture, and AI-driven decision dominance are essential to deterring aggression and winning in the modern littoral environment.

During the Shangri-La Dialogue, Paparo and Rowell hosted and participated in more than 20 bilateral and multilateral engagements to underscore U.S. commitments to allies and partners, and increase mutual understanding of regional security challenges, enhance cooperation across the Indo-Pacific, confront common threats, and safeguard shared interests.

USINDOPACOM leaders also addressed future leaders during an engagement with the Young Leaders Program to advance people-to-people ties and reinforce shared values within the youth of the Indo-Pacific defense community. As one of the United States’ strongest bilateral partners in Southeast Asia, Singapore plays an indispensable role in regional security, and the two countries continued to strengthen their enduring relationship grounded in mutual economic interests, robust defense cooperation, and deep people-to-people ties.

USINDOPACOM is committed to enhancing stability in the Indo-Pacific region by promoting security cooperation, encouraging peaceful development, responding to contingencies, deterring aggression and, when necessary, prevailing in conflict.