US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, during his visit to Tokyo on Thursday, expressed regret over the refusal of his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangfu, to meet him this week. This comes, particularly in light of recent provocative maneuvers executed by Chinese fighter jets near US military aircraft.
Austin informed reporters in Tokyo, “I think this is unfortunate,” and warned that following these “provocative intercept operations” by Chinese warplanes, his concern over a potential incident “that could get out of control” had escalated, as reported by France Press.
On Monday, the Pentagon announced that Beijing had declined an American invitation for a meeting between the US and Chinese Defense Ministers during a defense summit in Singapore this week. Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder expressed in a statement that the People’s Republic of China had informed the US of its rejection of an invitation extended in early May for this week’s meeting in Singapore between Austin and Chinese National Defense Minister Li Shangfu.
Ryder believed that China’s apparent lack of interest in engaging in constructive military discussions was troubling but would not weaken the Defense Department’s commitment to establishing communication lines with the People’s Liberation Army.
In response, Beijing vaguely stated that “the United States clearly knows the reason for the current difficulties in military communications.”
Austin told reporters, “You’ve heard me speak numerous times about the importance of nations with significant capabilities communicating with each other so that crises can be managed and situations prevented from spiraling out of control needlessly.”
He further noted that the recent provocative interception operations against American and allied aircraft by China were “very concerning.” He stated, “We hope they will change their actions, but as they have not yet done so, I am concerned about an incident happening at some point that could very quickly get out of control.”
A high-ranking official in the Defense Department earlier described the refusal to accept the invitation as “the latest in a series of excuses,” saying that since 2021, China has either refused or failed to respond to more than 12 requests by the Defense Department for communication between the two leaderships, and about ten communication requests at the working group level.
In 2018, the US administration imposed sanctions on Li Shangfu for purchasing Russian weapons.
On Tuesday, the US military announced that a Chinese military pilot executed an “unjustifiably aggressive maneuver” near a US military reconnaissance aircraft flying over the South China Sea. Video footage showed a fighter jet passing in front of a US aircraft, causing turbulence as a result of the Chinese fighter’s passage.
China responded by accusing the US of executing “provocative and dangerous maneuvers,” asserting that the US reconnaissance aircraft had “intentionally intruded into our training area.”
These events occur amidst rising tensions between Beijing and Washington over issues such as Taiwan and a Chinese balloon flying over American territories earlier this year.
Keywords: US Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, Chinese Defense Minister, Li Shangfu, Pentagon, provocative maneuvers, Beijing, military communication, South China Sea, Taiwan, American territories.
