China declines US invitation for defense chiefs’ meeting in Singapore

Beijing has rejected the Pentagon’s request for a meeting between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and China’s Defense Minister Li Shangfu at a security forum in Singapore in June, the latest sign of the difficulties the countries are facing in their troubled ties. trying to stabilize.

The resolution was prepared for the meeting to be held at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an Asia security event organized annually by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “The People’s Republic of China informed the United States that they declined our invitation in early May,” the Pentagon said.

The Financial Times reported this month that China had told the US there was little chance of a meeting as long as Washington maintained sanctions on Li, which were imposed by the Trump administration in 2018 over Chinese purchases of Russian fighter jets and missiles. were imposed in relation to

The Pentagon had previously informed China that sanctions did not prevent a meeting in Singapore, but Beijing indicated it would be inappropriate to meet as long as they were in place.

“This is the first time the PRC has declined an invitation to communicate with the secretary, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or other (Defense) Department officials,” said a senior US defense official. “Frankly, it’s just the latest in a litany of excuses.”

The official said that, since 2021, China has refused or failed to respond to more than a dozen requests for senior-level meetings, in addition to several requests for working-level meetings.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“It is worrying that the Chinese have failed to see the risks inherent in the prolonged suspension of US-China military-to-military talks,” said Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the German Marshall Fund.

The Shangri-La talks often serve as one of the few forums for US defense secretaries to meet with their Chinese counterparts. Austin met the then Defense Minister Wei Fenghe last year. China’s defense minister confirmed on Monday that Li would attend the event.

China’s denial comes less than two weeks after President Joe Biden told the G7 in Japan he expected an imminent “thaw” in ties, which are at their lowest point in decades. Biden said he was considering lifting the sanctions on Lee, but the State Department later said that was not the case.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan recently met with Wang Yi, China’s top foreign policy official, in Vienna, a rare positive sign. Last week, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Washington, the first senior-level Chinese visit to the US capital since 2020. He also met US Trade Representative Catherine Tay at the APEC trade meeting in Detroit.

But China has not agreed to reschedule a trip to Beijing by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who canceled the previous one in February over the alleged Chinese spy balloon incident.

“The Chinese continue to cherry-pick who they want to engage with,” Glaser said, adding that they were more inclined toward economic officials like Raimondo or Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. “If the Chinese are serious about stabilizing bilateral relations, they need to resume military-military talks.”