U.S. Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin, middle, walks out after a bilateral assembly with China’s Protection Minister Dong Jun on the sidelines of the twenty first Shangri-La Dialogue summit on the Shangri-La Lodge in Singapore on Friday.
Vincent Thian/AP
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Vincent Thian/AP
SINGAPORE — U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese language counterpart, protection minister Dong Jun, met for the primary time in Singapore on Friday, as Washington and Beijing search to go off potential battle within the area.
The assembly — held on the sidelines of the annual Shangri-La protection dialogue — lasted for about 75 minutes, in accordance with Chinese language army spokesperson Senior Col. Wu Qian, who known as the official engagement “optimistic, sensible and constructive.”
“The 2 sides each agreed {that a} steady U.S.-China military-to-military relationship is essential,” Wu instructed journalists shortly after the assembly, including that either side had agreed to have extra communications and exchanges sooner or later.
That is the primary face-to-face assembly between Austin and Dong. Dong was appointed to his function final December, 4 months after his predecessor, Li Shangfu, was abruptly removedfrom his publish. It’s also the primary official assembly between the 2 high protection ministers since 2022, when China minimize off key army communication strains with the U.S. after former Home speaker Nancy Pelosi’s go to to Taiwan.
Though either side see such top-level contact as a optimistic transfer, additionally they confronted one another on points starting from Taiwan to the South China Sea throughout the assembly, in accordance with officers from either side.
“The secretary expressed concern about current provocative PLA exercise across the Taiwan Strait, and he reiterated that the PRC mustn’t use Taiwan’s political transition — a part of a traditional, routine democratic course of — as a pretext for coercive measures,” Air Power Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder mentioned in a statementafter the assembly.
In response, Dong reiterated Beijing’s place on Taiwan — that the island of 23 million folks belongs to China — and he accused Washington of “sending critical and mistaken alerts to the Taiwan separatist forces,” after the U.S. State Division congratulated Taiwan’s president William Lai on his inauguration in Might.
China’s Protection Minister Dong Jun, middle, walks out after a bilateral assembly with U.S. Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the twenty first Shangri-La Dialogue summit on the Shangri-La Lodge in Singapore on Friday.
NHAC NGUYEN/AFP through Getty Pictures
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NHAC NGUYEN/AFP through Getty Pictures
On the South China Sea, the place China has overlapping territorial claims with a number of Southeast Asian international locations, Austin reiterated the U.S. demand for the liberty of navigation beneath worldwide regulation. However the Chinese language facet pushed again, in accordance with Wu: “Nobody nation can pursue safety on the expense of sacrificing one other nation’s safety.”
Analysts say Beijing is prone to be repeatedly confronted with the South China Sea situation all through this weekend’s convention in Singapore. Philippines’ president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., is listed as a keynote speaker on Friday, the place he’s anticipated to spotlight China’s actions within the South China Sea.
The 2 high officers additionally mentioned Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. accuses China of supporting Russia’s protection industrial base. Beijing says it stays dedicated to not offering arms to both facet of the conflict.
