Washington: In his first major public appearance in Asia, Acting US Defence Secretary Pat Shanahan said on Saturday that Washington would no longer "ignore Chinese behaviour" in the Asia-Pacific region, calling its activity a "tool kit of coercion".

Speaking at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security summit, Shanahan also said that, despite Beijing's militarisation of disputed islands in the South China Sea, its alleged attempts to conduct cyber-attacks on other nations and its engagement in "predatory economics and debt-for-sovereignty deals", he wanted a better military-to-military relationship.