The US and Chinese defense ministers greeted and shook hands on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore but had no significant exchanges.
General Pat Ryder, a spokesman for the US Department of Defense, on June 2 described US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu as "having a brief exchange at the Shangri-La Dialogue opening night." He noted that the content of the dialogue "did not contain significant content."
Ryder affirmed that the Pentagon still wants to maintain communication with the Chinese side. "The United States will continue to seek substantive discussions between the two militaries at multiple levels to ensure responsible management of the bilateral relationship," the Pentagon spokesman said.
Beijing has not commented on the interaction between the two ministers.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin shakes hands and talks with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu at the opening ceremony of the 2023 Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on the night of June 2. Video: Twitter/Yaroslav Trofimov
A senior US defence official told AFP that the interaction between the two ministers was a positive sign. "However, a handshake at a party cannot replace a real meeting and a substantive exchange," the person said.
The US official said he expected the next meeting between the two ministers to take place in a "serious context and with substantive dialogue." He said Secretary Lloyd Austin "will share more about why we need to talk" in a speech in Singapore scheduled for June 3.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (left) and his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu. Photo: CNN
Li Shangfu, 65, was elected defense minister by China's parliament in March. He was sanctioned by the US government in 2018 for allegedly buying Russian weapons.
The Pentagon announced in late May that Beijing had declined an invitation to meet the two countries' defense ministers in Singapore on the sidelines of the 2023 Shangri-La Dialogue. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on May 31 that Mr. Li could not accept the invitation to meet his US counterpart because Washington had not addressed Beijing's concerns.
US-China tensions worsened sharply after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022. The two countries had recorded optimistic signals when Chinese President Xi Jinping met US President Joe Biden in Indonesia in November 2022, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. However, the US shooting down a Chinese balloon in February, which it considered a military reconnaissance device, caused high-level dialogue between the two countries to freeze.
The US Department of Defense accused a Chinese J-16 fighter jet of "dangerously approaching" a US RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft while it was operating in international airspace over the South China Sea on May 26, calling it an "unnecessarily provocative" act. Meanwhile, Beijing criticized Washington for being the "provocative" party in the region.
Secretary Austin said on June 1 that China's refusal to meet was "unfortunate", especially in the context of the above incident. He expressed concern that "at some point an incident will arise and could get out of control very quickly".
Thanh Danh (According to AFP, Reuters )
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