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US accuses China of ‘increasing tensions’, hopes to resolve issues with Russia
- Washington will keep 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea as defence chief Lloyd Austin criticises China’s pursuit of hypersonic weapons
- The US has been keen to expand the role of its military in the South to address security threats from the North and from China, says an analyst
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US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday accused China of increasing tensions in the region, citing a hypersonic missile test in July as just one of the military capabilities pursued by the world’s second-largest economy that made it a threat to Washington and its allies.
Austin was speaking in Seoul after he and US Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held annual military talks with their South Korean counterparts that also covered an update to operational planning for a potential conflict with North Korea.
South Korean Defence Minister Suh Wook told reporters after talks with Austin that the US would maintain the current level of troops in the country, which stands at 28,500.
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Suh also said the two sides made progress on meeting conditions for the transfer of wartime command control of their combined forces to South Korea.
Lee Il-Woo, an analyst at the Korea Defence Network, an association of defence experts, said the US had been keen to expand the role of its troops stationed in the South to address security threats from the North and from China.
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