China’s Defense Minister Li Shangfu has said that Beijing is seeking dialogue rather than confronting the United States and warned that any conflict between the two nations would create “unbearable disaster for the world”.
Speaking at Asia’s highest security summit, the Shangri-La Dialogue, on Sunday, Li said the world is big enough for China and the US to grow together.
“China and the US have different systems and differ in many other ways,” he said in a speech that marked his first major international address since being named China’s national defense minister in March.
“However, this should not prevent the two sides from seeking common grounds and common interests to strengthen bilateral ties and deepen cooperation,” he said.
“There is no denying that a serious conflict or confrontation between China and the US will be an unbearable disaster for the world.”
Ties between Washington and Beijing have been strained over a range of issues, including democratically-governed Taiwan, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and US President Joe Biden’s restrictions on semiconductor chip exports.
In their latest spat, the US military claimed on Saturday that the Chinese navy had performed “unsafe maneuvers” near a US destroyer cruising through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, while Beijing accused Washington of provoking risk and undermining peace and justice. stability in the region by “pro-independence forces” in Taipei.
Earlier in the day, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Singapore meeting that Washington was “deeply committed” to preserving the status quo in self-governing Taiwan that Beijing claims as its own territory.
He also chided China for refusing to hold military talks, leaving the superpowers deadlocked over their differences.
“I am deeply concerned that the PRC [People’s Republic of China] has been unwilling to get more serious about better crisis management mechanisms between our two armies,” Austin told the Singapore meeting.
“The more we talk, the more we can avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations that can lead to crisis or conflict.”
He added that Washington would not “flinch from harassment or coercion” from China and would continue to regularly sail through the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea and fly over the South China Sea to emphasize that it is international waters countering Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims in the region. .
Li, on whom the US imposed sanctions over arms purchases from Russia in 2018, shook hands with Austin over dinner on Friday, but the two have not had a deeper discussion, despite Washington’s repeated demands for more military exchanges.
Li’s speech to the Singapore rally was more subdued, though he accused the US and others of “interfering in China’s internal affairs” by providing Taiwan with defense support and training and making high-level diplomatic visits.
“China remains committed to the path of peaceful development, but we will never hesitate to defend our legitimate rights and interests, let alone sacrifice the country’s core interests,” he said.
Dressed in the uniform of a general in China’s People’s Liberation Army, Li also made thinly veiled digs at the US, accusing “some countries” of intensifying an arms race and deliberately interfering in the internal affairs of others.
He further warned against the creation of “NATO-like” military alliances in Asia and the Pacific, saying they would only plunge the region into a “vortex of strife and conflict”.
“A Cold War mentality is now resurfacing, greatly increasing security risks,” he said. “Mutual respect must prevail over bullying and hegemony.”
Li appeared to be referring to Washington’s alliances and partnerships in the region, including the AUKUS alliance with Australia and the United Kingdom.
The US is also a member of the Quad group, which also includes Australia, India and Japan.
Analysts in China say Beijing feels increasingly “encircled” by the US.
“Even before the recent direct confrontations, the communication routes of China, which is not only the Taiwan Strait, but also the South China Sea, are surrounded by US military resources – the first island chain center in Okinawa, the second island chain center in Guam, along with the military bottlenecks in Singapore, which control the throat, so to speak, of the outflow of China’s lifeblood of trade, of energy imports,” said Andrew Leung, an independent China adviser and analyst based in Hong Kong.
“So when you’re in China and you’re surrounded, of course, you defend a lot,” he told Al Jazeera.
Despite the tensions, Beijing believes it is important to maintain communication channels, Leung said. He noted that Li held talks with defense chiefs of US allies, South Korea and Japan, in Singapore, while Beijing also hosted Washington Deputy Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Daniel Kritenbrink, for talks on key issues in the bilateral relationship .
“But if the high-level talks take place directly between the two defense ministers, China naturally resists that as a signal for US hypocrisy,” Leung said.
“Because in Beijing there is a feeling that the United States is saying one thing and doing another, saying that it is not trying to derail China’s progress, but on the other hand confronting China.”