(Bloomberg) -- US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed that his Chinese counterpart decided not to meet with him in Laos this week, a reminder of the tensions that remain between the world’s two largest economies as Donald Trump prepares to take over the presidency.
Austin said it was unfortunate that Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun didn’t meet with him in Vientiane where there was a gathering of military leaders. In the past, such multilateral gatherings in the region have served as a rare avenue for the two sides to discuss security issues that include Beijing’s plans for Taiwan and disputes in the South China Sea.
“It affects the region because the region really wants to see two significant players in the region, two significant powers, talk to each other,” Austin told reporters at the sidelines of the meeting. “And that reassures the entire region.”
Austin said China declining a meeting doesn’t have “any sort of implications for the future” and only Beijing can explain “why they chose not to take advantage of a good opportunity.”
In response, China said the US is the one to blame for the lack of a meeting between the two defense chiefs.
“The US cannot harm China’s core interests on the Taiwan issue on the one hand while on the other having exchanges with the Chinese military as if nothing has happened,” Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said in a statement. “The top priority now is that the US should immediately correct its mistakes, earnestly respect China’s core interests, and strive to create favorable conditions for high-level exchanges between the two militaries.”
While snubbing the Pentagon chief, China’s Dong held talks with the top defense officials from New Zealand, India, and Malaysia as well as the Secretary-General of ASEAN before the summit, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.
In an address to the summit, Dong said China and ASEAN countries should take a long-term perspective to expand common maritime interests and carry out maritime security cooperation in a flexible and diverse manner in a bid to maintain regional peace and stability, according to Xinhua.
“The Asia-Pacific region remains generally stable, but the risk of being drawn into geopolitical conflicts is there,” Dong said. He also called for countries in the region to be united and reject any group politics or confrontation, the report added.
Austin is in the middle of one of his final trips to the region that also includes stops in Australia, Fiji and the Philippines. In Manila earlier this week, he and his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro inked a new agreement that allows the sharing of classified defense information between the two countries, a move sure to irk Beijing as it presses its claims against the US ally in the South China Sea.
The outgoing Pentagon chief said during the trip that the US is “profoundly committed to the defense of the Philippines,” and that American commitment to its mutual defense treaty with the Philippines remains “ironclad.”
However Trump’s return to the White House has cast doubts over US reassurances regarding Taiwan after President Joe Biden repeatedly vowed to defend the self-governing island from any Chinese invasion.
“When we came on board, we designed a national defense strategy that placed the PRC as a pacing challenge,” Austin said on Wednesday referring to China. “We have done a lot of good work that will be lasting in nature.”
--With assistance from Lucille Liu and Foster Wong.
(Adds China’s response from fifth paragraph)
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