The US military will continue to sail through the skies and waters of Asia where China has become increasingly belligerent, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in Singapore, where the Chinese defense minister’s rebuff Negotiations with him have highlighted rifts between Beijing and Washington.
Annual Shangri-La Dialogue Singapore, after two decades of operation, has become a venue for military officials from Washington and Beijing to spar, but also holds bilateral discussions aimed at easing tensions. However, this year, China’s Defense Minister, General Ly Thuong Phucrefused to meet Mr. Austin.
In his speech, Mr. Austin highlighted his main themes: justification for the activities of the United States and its allies in the waters and airspace near China; forging stronger alliances with Washington in the region; and pledges continued U.S. assistance to Taiwan. All of these are sore points for Beijing, especially Taiwan, which China claims as its territory.
“We will not be discouraged by dangerous activity at sea or in international airspace,” Mr. Austin told an audience of military officials and experts from across Asia and beyond. “The People’s Republic of China continues to conduct an alarming number of dangerous intercepts against US and allied aircraft that are legally flying in international airspace. “We have all just witnessed another disturbing case of the PRC’s aggressive and unprofessional flying activity,” he said, referring to China.
In late May, a Chinese J-16 jet fighter jet flew dangerously close to a US Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea. US Indo-Pacific Command.
It was one of the discussions that shaped the recent boom in Singapore, where concern centered on the confounding dynamics between the world’s two largest economies: signs of efforts to ease tensions, amid deeply distrustful of strategic and military intentions.
Mr. Austin and China’s Defense Minister, General Li, shook hands during a brief meeting at the forum’s opening dinner on Friday. But on Saturday, Mr. Austin said that was not enough, with issues of instability such as nuclear weapons and dangerous confrontations in the sky and sea needing attention.
“A cordial handshake at dinner is no substitute for genuine bonding,” Mr. Austin said in his speech. In response to subsequent questions, he added: “As soon as they answer the phone, we’ll probably get some work done.”
Despite frosty military ties, progress has been made in reopening discussions between Beijing and Washington. China’s Minister of Commerce, Wang Wentao, recently visited the United States. President Biden’s National Security Adviser held talks last month with a senior Chinese diplomat, signaling that both sides want to reduce animosity.
But the cumulative antagonism between China and the United States on security issues – including Taiwan, technological competition, US alliance building in Asia, and China’s military build-up – has been difficult. overcome more.
“I think the economic situation in China has worried Xi to some extent,” he said. Orville Schell, director of the Center for US-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York, said in a phone interview. “But I don’t think his basic assumptions about animosity in our relationship have changed.”
General Li, who was appointed to his current position in March, has been placed under Washington sanctions in 2018 about the purchase of fighter jets and surface-to-air missile systems from Russia, and China cited that punishment as the reason it refused to meet with Mr. Austin. Pentagon officials argue that sanctions should not hinder negotiations and that avoiding or defuse potential crises is made more difficult by the Chinese military’s unwillingness to communicate regularly and timely. General Li will speak at the forum on Sunday.
Bonnie Glaser, director of the Indo-Pacific Program at the German Marshall Fund, said that China is particularly angry about the US’s increased support for Taiwan, and sees the cessation of dialogue as a way to US warning.
“They want to get our attention,” she said, adding that Beijing may not see the value in resuming military talks. “The Chinese – and this has been true for a long time – are really not interested in risk mitigation measures,” she said, “because they think that by maintaining a certain level of risk , we will be more cautious.”
A senior Pentagon official said Austin planned to speak with General Li about the risks from “unsafe and unprofessional behavior” and about China’s growing presence. military pressure on Taiwan, as well as regional and global security issues. The official cited a crisis when a Chinese fighter jet collided with a US spy plane, killing the Chinese pilot and forcing the US plane to land on a Chinese island. Country, where there are 24 crew members. held in 11 days.
Zhao Xiaozhuo, a senior colonel in the People’s Liberation Army of China who attended the Singapore forum, said the US call for a “protection rail” about encounters between military aircraft and ships could be used as an excuse to legitimize US surveillance of China.
“Crisis management is a good thing,” he said in an interview in English. But US military ships and planes often conduct surveillance near the Chinese coast, he said. “The protections favored by the United States, to my knowledge, are legitimizing what the United States has done in its provocative behavior toward China.”
Any serious conflict between Beijing and Washington will likely stem from their smoldering regional disputes rather than from the single operations of individual planes and ships. Above all, those risks focus on the South China Sea and Taiwan, the democratically administered island that Beijing says is part of its territory and must eventually accept reunification.
Beijing says it will not rule out using military force to enforce its claim to Taiwan, and China’s force build-up has prompted some experts and even commanders to The US military speculates that Mr. Xi may seek to occupy the island within years. However, many experts believe that China still faces formidable obstacles to armed takeover across the Taiwan Strait, about 81 miles across at its narrowest point.
Even so, China’s growing capabilities make it increasingly difficult to deter potential military actions for Taiwan’s forces and their American partners, many of which have an significant benefit. increase their own military budget. The United States is legally committed to helping Taiwan defend itself, but is not required to directly engage in a possible war over the island, although President Biden has said recommended many times that it will interfere.
“Today, deterrence is very strong and it is our job to keep it that way,” Mr. Austin said. “Make no mistake: Conflict in the Taiwan Strait will be devastating.”
