Beijing has declined a US invitation to arrange a meeting this week in Singapore between Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangfu, the Pentagon said on Monday.
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) “has informed the US that they have declined our early May invitation for Secretary Austin to meet with PRC Minister of National Defence Li Shangfu in Singapore this week,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said in a statement.
“The PRC’s concerning unwillingness to engage in meaningful military-to-military discussions will not diminish our commitment to seek open lines of communication with the People’s Liberation Army,” Ryder said.
Lloyd Austin is due to travel to Singapore this week to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue conference on Asia-Pacific defence and security. At the previous edition, in June 2022, he met Li Shangfu’s predecessor, Wei Fenghe.
China’s current defence minister was sanctioned in 2018 by the US administration for buying Russian weapons, but the Pentagon says that does not prevent the US defence secretary from having official exchanges with him.
In late 2022, tensions between Beijing and Washington intensified around Taiwan and an alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down by a US plane while flying over the United States.
