US military heads first hit the UK over the British -guided security forum

(Bloomberg) – For the first time, the US refused to send any uniform military or government staff to speak during a UK’s key safety conference and held in Japan this year, even if regional tracks have tried to strengthen coordination. The Pacific Future Forum, which will be held on board the British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales in Tokyo Bay on Friday and Saturday, contains the British and Japanese defense ministers as speakers, and senior military officials from Japan and Western countries. The US commander of the US Navy, Vice -Admiral Fred W. Kacher, was, according to people who were invited to speak, according to people who are familiar with the case, but the organizers received no answer. The seventh fleet did not immediately respond to a request for comment beyond working hours. Mark Sedwill, the chairman of the Pacific Future Forum, declined to comment. The Pentagon moved from the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado in July, with a spokesman saying that it “promotes the evil of globalism, contempt for our great country and hatred for the United States president.” Later this month, the Department of Defense issued a memo that suspended participation in private organized forums. The Pacific Future Forum is run by the government. Mark Montgomery, a former US rear admiral, said in a panel discussion that he was “embarrassed” that the US had not sent speakers to the Pacific Future Forum. In May, China broke with a typical practice by refusing to send its top military diplomat to the Shangri-La dialog in Singapore, another major safety conference. Alessio Patalano, a professor of war and strategy in East Asia at King’s College London, said on the sidelines of Pacific Future Forum that it is “striking” that the US has decided not to send official participants to the event. The US has missed “the opportunity to be on stage with the NATO and East Asian allies to discuss the value of ever -closer ties,” Patalano said. The Pacific Future Forum, held for the first time in 2018, is usually convened in Europe and known as the Atlantic Future Forum. According to the forum organizers, it was held six times before, all with official US participation. The location moved to Japan this year due to the deployment of Prince Wales to Asia, where it participated in practice exercises in Australia. In 2024, US participants included both military and diplomatic staff, such as Major General Robert Sofge, who was then commander of American marine forces in Europe and Africa. (Updates with a comment in the seventh paragraph of a professor. A previous version of this story corrected the spelling of ‘Mark Sedwill’.) More stories like this are available on Bloomberg.com © 2025 Bloomberg LP