Defense officials from around the world gathered in Singapore for Asia’s largest security forum to discuss major threats as tensions rise between the US and China.
In a speech on the second day of the Shangri-La Dialogue, which brings together more than 600 military leaders, policymakers and analysts from 40 nations, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that dialogue between the US and China is “essential” to avoid miscalculations that could lead to conflict.
At a dinner on Friday night, he shook hands with Chinese Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu (李尚福), who had declined a formal meeting unless the US removed sanctions placed on him.
Photo: AFP
Austin spoke as the US Navy conducted a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait, a move that China regularly finds provocative.
The action showed the potential for miscalculation between the two sides as relations remain strained over Taiwan, US curbs on advanced chips and Beijing’s diplomatic support for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Austin is on a tour of Asia that previously took him to Japan and would also include a visit to India — part of a push by top US officials to shore up alliances and partnerships in the region to counter Beijing.
“The United States believes that open lines of communication with the People’s Republic of China are essential — especially between our defense and military leaders,” Austin told the summit.
“The more that we talk, the more that we can avoid the misunderstandings and miscalculations that could lead to crisis or conflict,” he said.
The US had invited Li to meet on the sidelines of the summit, but Beijing declined, with a spokeswoman saying that “the US knows clearly why there are currently difficulties in military communication.”
Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Senior Colonel Tan Kefei (譚克非) said that Austin “made several false accusations” in his remarks.
“We oppose that,” Tang told reporters in Singapore.
Chinese delegation member Senior Colonel Zhao Xiaozhuo (趙小卓) said that Washington had no business telling China what to do.
“What we do in the Chinese military is based on maintaining the core interests of China’s security, which is fundamental,” he told reporters.
Li, who is to address the forum today, was sanctioned by the US government in 2018 for buying Russian weapons, but the Pentagon says that does not prevent Austin from conducting official business with him.
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
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‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
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