SINGAPORE: Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had their face-to-face meeting on Friday on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, marking the first in-person talks between Chinese and US defense chiefs since November 2022 and a further step in resuming military dialogue and consultations amid recent tensions in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Straits.
Dong reiterated China’s firm positions on the Taiwan question and the South China Sea issue, with experts saying that China will firmly defend its national sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests, as well as safeguard peace and stability in the region.
The meeting lasted 75 minutes, slightly longer than expected, Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesperson at the Ministry of National Defense, told reporters at a press briefing after the meeting.
The meeting was positive, practical and constructive at the strategic level, Wu said, noting that with a meeting like this, the two sides can have a deeper understanding and a firsthand feeling of each other’s positions.
During the meeting, the two defense leaders exchanged views on the state-to-state and military-to-military relations between China and the US, as well as the Taiwan question, the South China Sea issue, the Ukraine crisis, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Wu explained.
During the meeting, Dong told Austin that the two militaries’ relationship is stabilizing after a decline, which is hard-won and should be carefully cherished, according to Wu.
The purpose of military exchanges should be to enhance understanding, eliminate misunderstandings, build mutual trust, and eventually achieve stability in relations, Dong said, noting that one should not ignore facts, shift blame, or even take chances to smear and suppress the other.
The venue of Shangri-La Dialogue in SinagporeÂ
China follows the basic guidelines of valuing peace, stability and trust, and aims to build a non-conflicting, non-confrontational military relationship with open, pragmatic cooperation and gradually accumulating trust, on a basis of equality and mutual respect, Dong said.
Dong urged the US side to effectively implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state in the military field, reflected in concrete actions.
For the next step, the two countries are expected to resume conversations between theater commanders, as spokesperson Wu said that related departments are staying in consultation over the matter.
Lieutenant General He Lei, former vice president of the Academy of Military Sciences of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), told the media that the meeting represents positive action by the Chinese and US militaries in implementing the consensus reached at the San Francisco summit. It marks a crucial step of turning the San Francisco Vision into reality.
He Lei said the in-person talks indicate the beginning of the restoration of normal high-level interactions between Chinese and American militaries. This is conducive to stabilizing and improving the military relationship between the two countries and helping ties move forward positively.
The face-to-face meeting comes after Dong and Austin had a video call in April.
To implement the important consensus reached during the November summit meeting between the heads of state of China and the US in San Francisco, the two militaries have resumed dialogue and consultations on the basis of equal footing and mutual respect, observers said.
On December 21, 2023, General Liu Zhenli, chief of staff of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, had a video talk with General Charles Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US military.
In January, the 17th China-US Defense Policy Coordination Talks were held in Washington DC in the US. In April, Chinese and US militaries held a working group meeting of the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement in Hawaii. In May, the director of the Office for International Military Cooperation under China’s CMC held video talks with the US Assistant Secretary of Defense.
These meetings paved the way for the face-to-face talks between the two defense ministers at the Shangri-La Dialogue, observers said.
