(Washington Comprehensive) U.S. officials revealed that the Minister of Defense of China and the United States expects to meet in the Shangri -La dialogue in Singapore next week and will focus on the control of the competition between the two countries and discuss the definition of "Guardrails".
At the International Defense Forum, Shangri -La dialogue is scheduled to be held in Singapore from June 10th to 12th.As the Sino -US relations are tight, the Sino -US defense ministers are expected to be the focus of this forum.
US officials revealed on Friday that the Chinese Ministry of Defense has formally proposed that the US defense ministers Austin and the Chinese State Councilor and the Secretary of Defense Wei Feng and a talk at the venue of the conversation between Shangri -La were held outside the venue.This means that Austin and Wei Fenghe may meet in Singapore for the first time.
senior officials: will discuss potential "guardrails" in China and US military relations
The senior official who required anonymous said: "From our perspective, we expect the content of this meeting to focus on the competition between regional and global competition between China and the United States."
The Pentagon is still discussing the time when the two defense ministers meet.Officials revealed that Osin and Wei Fenghe will discuss the potential "guardrails" of Chinese and US military relations once they meet to prevent competing out of control.Officials say how to define the "guardrail" and is still studying.
This will be the first face -to -face talks between Austin and Wei Fenghe. The two called on the phone in April this year.However, the contents of China and the United States have different contents after the meeting.At that time, the Pentagon said that the two defense ministers discussed the issues of defense relations, regional security and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.The Chinese Ministry of National Defense pointed out that if Wei Feng and warning Taiwan's issues are not handled properly, it will have a subversive impact on Sino -US relations.
The above -mentioned U.S. senior officials pointed out that Austin plans to use this visit to Asia, emphasizing that the United States puts the India's Pacific priority and explores the collective deterrence with allies.
Austin's trip to Asia will stay in Singapore and Thailand this time.He will give a speech in the Shangri -La dialogue and discuss US -Thailand security cooperation in Thailand.Austin went to Brussels to meet with NATO defense officials.
The Ministry of National Defense announced on the official website at the end of last month that Wei Feng and Ding Ding visited Singapore from 8th to 12th this month and attended the Shangri -La dialogue.Wei Feng and the Chinese Defense Director in 2018, first went to Singapore to attend the Shangri -La dialogue for the first time in 2019. Therefore, this will be the second time he was attending the forum as the chief.
China and the United States have continued to have corner power. On many issues, the two countries have frequently frictions from the human rights records of Taiwan and China to China's military activities in the South China Sea.Senior US officials pointed out that the United States is paying close attention to military exercises between China and Russia in the Asia -Pacific region.
Reuters reports that despite the tension situation and frequent tit -for -tat, the U.S. military has long been seeking communication channels to establish an open communication with the Chinese military to reduce the possibility of emergencies and deal with any accidents.
