May 29, 2025

Duckworth, Ricketts Lead Bipartisan Senate Delegation to Shangri-La Dialogue to Reaffirm U.S. Iron-Clad Commitment to Indo-Pacific Partners & Allies

 

[SINGAPORE] – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—who served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years and is a member of both the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC)—and U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) are leading a bipartisan Congressional Delegation to Singapore to this year’s International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Shangri-La Dialogue, which is one of Asia’s premier global international security and defense summits, to reaffirm the United States’ strong bipartisan commitment to our partners and allies in the Indo-Pacific region. Their arrival in Singapore comes immediately after Senator Duckworth completed a successful visit to Taiwan where she voiced her support for the Taiwanese people and our partnership with them. While in Singapore, the Delegation plans to meet with a number of defense and foreign affairs officials representing several of our partners in the Indo-Pacific region to discuss her efforts to increase cooperation in areas of mutual interest, including strengthening our cultural, economic and military partnerships across the region.

“I’ve always believed that if America wants to remain a global leader, we have to show up and support our partners and allies—and that means our leadership in the Indo-Pacific must continue for the long term,” said Senator Duckworth. “The United States has long been a major Pacific power but, if we abandon our Indo-Pacific partners, we’d be leaving a vacuum that the PRC both can—and likely will—take advantage of, making it harder for America to compete with China and weakening our standing on the global stage all while giving our adversaries and competitors an easy path to overtaking us. So I’m proud to be back for this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue, where Senator Ricketts and I will be working to strengthen our relationships with several of our Indo-Pacific partners and send a strong, bipartisan message to our allies—and our competitors—that the United States is here for the long haul.”

“Increasing aggression from Communist China continues to threaten peace and stability across the Indo-Pacific. In the Senate, I am working with my colleagues to make sure all aspects of our government are ready to respond to Beijing’s malign influence and hostilities in the region,” said Senator Ricketts. “What we’re seeing from America’s friends in the Indo-Pacific is a renewed emphasis on strengthening their defense capabilities. I’m looking forward to participating in this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue with Senator Duckworth. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies and partners to deter Communist China’s aggression and counter its threats to our collective interests.”

While in Singapore, the Duckworth-Ricketts Delegation intends to meet with Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Singapore Minister of Defence Chan Chun Sing, Republic of Korea Defense Minister for Policy Cho Chang-rae, Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, INDOPACOM Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, German Deputy Defense Minister Dr. Nils Schmid, Thailand Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Phuntham Wechayachai, Philippines Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, UK Ministry of Defense Minister of State Lord Coaker, Commander of United Nations Command (UNC) Xavier Brunson and more.

This trip comes after Duckworth successfully led a bipartisan delegation to the Shangri-La Dialogue alongside U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) last year. Duckworth is a proven leader when it comes to strengthening our relations with Indo-Pacific nations and improving security in the region—which she has done while successfully securing significant international investments in Illinois. In the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that was signed into law, Duckworth successfully secured a modified version of her Access to Care for Overseas Military Act to improve medical readiness in the Indo-Pacific. This provision established a program to accredit foreign medical facilities to help ensure our nation’s servicemembers as well as their families have access to quality patient care throughout the Indo-Pacific region—where they often must travel long distances to receive care—both during peacetime and in the event of a conflict abroad.

In 2023, Duckworth led an official visit to Japan and Indonesia as part of her continuing efforts to strengthen ties and reinforce support between allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region and the United States. And last summer, Duckworth led another official visit to the Indo-Pacific region again, visiting Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines to meet with government and business leaders and discuss opportunities that would increase cooperation in areas of mutual interest, such as economic investments, regional stability and national security.

In 2022, Duckworth traveled to South Korea and Taiwan where she met with business, government and trade leaders, which helped lead to a joint venture between Illinois’s ADM and South Korea’s LG Chem, as well as a commitment from Taiwan to purchase an estimated $2.6 billion of our Illinois’s corn and soybeans. In 2021, Duckworth, Sullivan and Coons also travelled to Taiwan to announce that the United States’ would donate 750,000 COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan as part of President Biden’s plan to provide vaccines to our global partners in need. Duckworth also successfully included a modified version of her Strengthen Taiwan’s Security Act in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to help Taiwan strengthen its military defenses. In 2019, Duckworth led a bipartisan delegation to Japan and Singapore. In 2018, Duckworth visited South Korea and Japan.

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