The Pentagon of the United States announced that the US Secretary of Defense Austin will hold the first face -to -face meeting with the Chinese Defense Mission Dong Jun during the Shangri -La dialogue in Singapore.
According to Agence France -Presse, the US Pentagon announced on Friday (May 24) that Austin will attend the Shangri -La dialogue in Singapore from May 31st to June 2nd.Austin will meet Dong Jun at this dialogue.
Agence France -Presse said that the meeting was after the large -scale military exercise held in the Taiwan Strait in mainland China.Because the inauguration of Taiwan's new president Lai Qingde was identified as "Taiwan independence" by Beijing, the Eastern theater of the PLA of China announced on Thursday (May 23) to hold "Union Sword-20124A" on the island and multiple outlying islands in Taiwan for two consecutive days.Military exercises are considered to be the ability to inspect the PLA to block Taiwan's external contact.
Austin and Dong Jun, who served as the Defense Director at the end of last year, held a video conference in mid -April and called for the first time.After visiting Taiwan in August 2022, the former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Perosi, the formal dialogue between the Sino -US defense ministers was interrupted for nearly a year and a half.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Bynden interviewed in San Francisco last November last November, and agreed to restart the military dialogue, and the senior officials of the two armies gradually resumed contact.
Ely Ratner, an American Assistant Defense Director in charge of Indo -Pacific Security Affairs, held a video conference with Major General Li Bin, Director of the International Military Cooperation Office of the CPC Central Military Commission last Thursday (May 16).This is the first exchange among the positions since 2019.
