WASHINGTON: The US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin is scheduled to meet his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Dong Jun at a major defence conference in Singapore next week, says the Pentagon on Friday.
The upcoming meeting will be their first encounter since they had a phone call in April. It happens as China and United States gradually warmed their relationship that was iced by Nancy Pelosi controversial visit to Taiwan in 2022, which led to China temporarily stopping most military-to-military communications.
The announcement came shortly before the Pentagon said Austin would undergo a medical procedure at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday evening and transfer power temporarily to his deputy. Austin has been struggling with bladder problems that developed after he was treated for prostate cancer last December.
Later Friday, the Pentagon said the procedure was successful and Austin had resumed duty and returned home. “No changes in his official schedule are anticipated at this time, to include his participation in scheduled Memorial Day events,” said Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary.
Austin is expected to have talks with Dong who is China’s Minister of National Defense during Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue scheduled for next week (Diplomat). This gathering brings together over fifty defense ministers and government officials from around the world.
But this comes amidst an aggressive series of military exercises by China off Taiwan while Taiwan scrambled jets and placed missile, naval and land units on alert Thursday
These exercises were launched after Lai Ching-te took office as new president of Taiwan and called on Beijing to stop harassing his country but accept its reality. Beijing dismissed what it called separatist remarks by him as calls for war so they initiated military exercises instead.
Taiwan is regarded as part of Chinese territory and Beijing has vowed forcefully taking it back if necessary.Legally, US must ensure Taiwan can defend itself against any threats under federal law (Wikipedia).
In response ChinahasbeenwarnedbytheUSagainstusingTaiwanesePoliticaltransitionasapretext for provocative or coercive measures said a Defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to give these details.
Subsequently, the two governments made efforts to engage with one another after President Biden hosted his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in California in November and underlined the importance of maintaining an open line of communication.
In late December, Dong was appointed as China’s Minister of National Defence following the removal from office of his predecessor Li Shangfu. For example, in April this year, he held talks with Austin on such matters as Ukraine crisis and North Korea (Diplomat).
Austin last met a Chinese defense minister in November 2022, when he and Wei Fenghe, then China’s defense minister were in Cambodia for a regional defense minister meeting.
Jim Mattis was the most recentUSdefensesecretarytovisitChinain2018.
