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Chinese Defence Minister General Li Shangfu and US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin shake hands during the opening dinner for the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday. Photo: Weibo

Chinese, US defence chiefs are in Singapore for Shangri-La Dialogue, but will bilateral talks happen?

  • China’s General Li Shangfu and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin have kicked off separate meetings to vie for support from Asia-Pacific nations
  • But prospects for bilateral talks appear slim, after the US said China declined a proposal to meet and PLA brass confirms sanctions on Li as a reason
The defence ministers of China and the United States have kicked off separate efforts to vie for support from Asia-Pacific nations at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, but chances of a much-needed meeting between the two remain slim.

Chinese defence chief General Li Shangfu and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin shook hands briefly at a welcome dinner on Friday, the short exchange a significant footnote to a day of discussions with regional counterparts.

Li earlier led People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers for closed-door bilateral meetings with officials from Mongolia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Cambodia.

The meetings came as the coastguards of the US, Japan and the Philippines carried out joint maritime exercises in the South China Sea. The week-long drill launched on Thursday is their first such trilateral exercise amid growing concerns about China’s maritime expansion in the region.

The joint exercises in waters off the Philippine province of Bataan will include counter-piracy simulations, and possibly an interception exercise involving a vessel carrying weapons of mass destruction, Philippine coastguard spokesman Armand Balilo said earlier this week.

Balilo said Japan and the US had approached his country in February, the same month that Enrique Manalo, the Philippine foreign minister, confirmed regular cases of “harassment” in the contested South China Sea.

Manalo’s accusation at the Munich Security Forum came after a Chinese navy ship and dozens of Chinese militia vessels surrounded the Philippine-controlled Thitu Island in the disputed Spratly archipelago, also claimed by Beijing.
Japanese, Philippine and US coastguard officers link arms at the Port of Manila on Thursday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Meanwhile, there was still little hope of a meeting between Li and Austin in Singapore, after the US said China had declined a proposal for talks at the major annual Asia-Pacific security conference.

Chinese Lieutenant General He Lei told the Post that the PLA on May 29 “formally rejected” a request by Austin for a face-to-face meeting with Li on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue.

“I am afraid that it’s the first time China has used the word ‘reject’ in its military-to-military diplomacy with the US,” said He, who is a former deputy director of the PLA Academy of Military Science and among the delegates accompanying Li.

Washington’s refusal to lift the sanctions on Li was one of the key reasons for rejecting the request, he added.

“The sanctions on Li target not only Li himself, but also the PLA, as such a move is aimed at restricting China’s defence development and military modernisation.”

China says US must correct ‘mistaken actions’ before top defence chiefs meet

The US imposed secondary sanctions in 2018 on Li and the equipment department of the top Chinese military decision-making body, for helping China to buy Su-35 fighter jets and hardware related to the S-400 missile system from Rosoboronexport, Russia’s main state arms exporter.

Rosoboronexport had earlier attracted US sanctions because it violated American law restricting weapons trade with Iran, North Korea and Syria.

The sanctions do not bar Li from meeting Austin.

“However, China never shuts the door to communication between the two militaries. It will be ready to talk once it feels the timing is good, and it should be the Chinese military that takes the initiative, not the Americans,” He said.

The US earlier said it was worried that China was not interested in defence dialogue.

Austin and Li shook hands and spoke briefly as they shared a table at the Shangri-La Dialogue opening dinner on Friday. The pair sat three seats apart, with Singapore’s acting prime minister Lawrence Wong in one of the seats in between.

Addressing officials and defence analysts at the dinner, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appealed for the removal of trade barriers with China.

“China’s extraordinary economic transformation has benefited not only its population,” Albanese said. “China’s extraordinary economic transformation has also benefited our entire region.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addresses the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. Photo: Reuters

China imposed anti-dumping duties on Australian wine and barley followed by informal bans on exports such as lobsters and coal from 2020 to 2021, after Canberra called for a global inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus. Ties have begun to thaw under the Albanese government which took office last May.

Albanese said Australia strongly supported renewed efforts from the US government to establish “reliable and open channels of communication” with Beijing. Breakdowns in talks would help governments assume the worst of one another and result in “irretrievable action and reaction”, he warned.

“The consequences of such a breakdown, whether in the Taiwan Strait or elsewhere, would not be confined to the big powers or the side of the conflict. That would be devastating for the world.”

On Friday morning, Austin and his Singaporean counterpart Ng Eng Hen held a bilateral meeting to discuss defence cooperation and geopolitical developments in the Asia-Pacific, a Singapore defence ministry statement said.

Next, Austin met his counterparts from the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Singapore, to discuss US initiatives to maintain a “rules-based regional security environment”, the ministry said.

The Pentagon chief then met Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto in an unofficial two-way meeting.

The US has multiple initiatives to strengthen economic and military ties with Asia-Pacific countries, under its stated aim to promote a democratic international order. But Beijing criticises Washington’s diplomatic outreach for dividing the region and being aimed at containing China.

On Friday, Li also “exchanged views on global and regional security developments” with Singapore’s Lawrence Wong, the city state’s defence ministry said in a statement without elaborating. Wong is widely expected to succeed Lee Hsien Loong as Singapore’s next prime minister.

The Chinese delegation will hold more bilateral defence ministry level talks on Saturday. One of those will be with British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, he told the Post.

Austin is expected to speak on Saturday about US “leadership in the Indo-Pacific”, followed by a speech on Sunday by Li about China’s security initiatives.

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