China’s defense minister declined a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a meeting of defense leaders in Laos; a move the Pentagon chief said on Wednesday was unfortunate. Multilateral gatherings of national security officials in Asia have been used in the past for meetings between U.S. and Chinese defense leaders, but China declined a meeting request by Austin during this week’s Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Plus defense ministers meeting. It’s unfortunate. It affects the region because the region really wants to see us, you know, two significant players in the region, two significant powers, talk to each other, Austin told reporters. I don’t think that it has any sort of implications for the future. I just think that it’s something that they chose to do at this point in time and only they can explain why they chose to not take advantage of a good opportunity, Austin added.
Austin met China’s defense minister, Dong Jun, on the sidelines of a Singapore conference earlier this year, reiterating their differences on Taiwan and other issues but emphasizing the need to keep military-to-military communications open. Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed on Saturday to work with the incoming U.S. administration of Donald Trump as he held his final talks with outgoing President Joe Biden on conflicts from cyber-crime to trade, Taiwan, the South China Sea and Russia. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed that his Chinese counterpart decided not to meet with him in Laos this week, a reminder of the tensions that remain between the world’s two largest economies as Donald Trump prepares to take over the presidency. Austin said it was unfortunate that Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun didn’t meet with him in Vientiane where there was a gathering of military leaders. In the past, such multilateral gatherings in the region have served as a rare avenue for the two sides to discuss security issues that include Beijing’s plans for Taiwan and disputes in the South China Sea.
It affects the region because the region really wants to see two significant players in the region, two significant powers, talk to each other, Austin told reporters at the sidelines of the meeting. And that reassures the entire region. Austin said China declining a meeting doesn’t have any sort of implications for the future and only Beijing can explain why they chose not to take advantage of a good opportunity. In response, China said the US is the one to blame for the lack of a meeting between the two defense chiefs. The US cannot harm China’s core interests on the Taiwan issue on the one hand while on the other having exchanges with the Chinese military as if nothing has happened,” Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said in a statement. “The top priority now is that the US should immediately correct its mistakes, earnestly respect China’s core interests, and strive to create favorable conditions for high-level exchanges between the two militaries.”
While snubbing the Pentagon chief, China’s Dong held talks with the top defense officials from New Zealand, India, and Malaysia as well as the Secretary-General of ASEAN before the summit, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday. In an address to the summit, Dong said China and ASEAN countries should take a long-term perspective to expand common maritime interests and carry out maritime security cooperation in a flexible and diverse manner in a bid to maintain regional peace and stability, according to Xinhua. The Asia-Pacific region remains generally stable, but the risk of being drawn into geopolitical conflicts is there,” Dong said. He also called for countries in the region to be united and reject any group politics or confrontation, the report added. Austin is in the middle of one of his final trips to the region that also includes stops in Australia.
