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Singapore meeting a step in effort to open lines of communication: Pentagon chief
Austin, speaking with reporters during a visit to Thailand, said it was also an opportunity to raise Washington's concerns about the potential for instability in the Taiwan Strait.
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China's Defence Minister Wei Fenghe (right) talks to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (left), Singapore's Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen (2nd L) shakes hands with Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Richard Marles, during the ministerial roundtable luncheon at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore on June 11, 2022. (AFP/Roslan Rahman)
U
S Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Monday that his recent meeting with China's defense minister at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore was an important step in efforts to open lines of communication between the two militaries.
Austin, speaking with reporters during a visit to Thailand, said it was also an opportunity to raise Washington's concerns about the potential for instability in the Taiwan Strait.
Earlier on Friday, China's defence minister warned his US counterpart in the pair's first face-to-face talks that Beijing will "not hesitate to start a war" if Taiwan declares independence.
"If anyone dares to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese army will definitely not hesitate to start a war no matter the cost," Wu Qian quoted defence minister Wei Fenghe as saying during a meeting with Lloyd Austin.
The Chinese minister also vowed that Beijing would "smash to smithereens any 'Taiwan independence' plot and resolutely uphold the unification of the motherland", according to the Chinese defence ministry.
He "stressed that Taiwan is China's Taiwan... Using Taiwan to contain China will never prevail", the ministry said, quoted by AFP.
Austin told his Chinese counterpart during the talks in Singapore that Beijing must "refrain from further destabilising actions toward Taiwan", the US Department of Defense said.
Taiwan, a self-ruled, democratic island, lives under the constant threat of invasion by China. Beijing views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.
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