US Defense Secretary Austin expected to meet with Chinese counterpart in Singapore
WASHINGTON — US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Dong Jun, at a major defense conference in Singapore next week, the Pentagon announced on Friday.
It will be the first meeting between the two defense leaders after a telephone conversation in April. It comes as the US and China have been gradually rebuilding warm relations, which had been largely frozen since a controversial 2022 visit by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led to China temporarily suspending most military-to-military communications.
Austin and Dong, China’s defense minister, are expected to meet next week at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, an annual meeting of defense ministers and government officials from more than 50 countries.
However, the meeting also comes as China has engaged in aggressive military exercises around Taiwan, leading to Taiwan flying fighter jets and putting missile, naval and land units on alert Thursday.
China launched the exercises after the island’s new president, Lai Ching-te, was inaugurated and delivered a speech asking Beijing to stop its intimidation against the island but face the reality of its existence. Beijing rejected his comments as advocating separatism and launched the military exercises.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and promises to conquer the country by force if necessary to achieve unification. The US is required by federal law to ensure that the island can defend itself.
In the wake of these exercises, the US has warned China not to use Taiwan’s political transition as a “pretext or excuse” for provocative or coercive measures, a defense official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that had not been made public.
The two governments began to engage each other more after President Biden hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in California in November and emphasized the need to keep communications open.
Dong is a former naval commander who was appointed in late December after his predecessor, Li Shangfu, was removed from office. Dong spoke with Austin by phone in April about issues including the war in Ukraine, freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, Taiwan and North Korea.
Austin last met a Chinese defense minister in November 2022, when he and Wei Fenghe, then Chinese defense minister, were in Cambodia for a regional defense ministers meeting.
No US Secretary of Defense has visited China since Jim Mattis’ visit in 2018.