Chinese, US defense chiefs hold 1st meeting since November 2022

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Chinese and US defense chiefs met in Singapore on Friday for the first face-to-face talks since November 2022.

Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met on the sidelines of Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore, Chinese state media reported.

Earlier, the two held a phone call in April.

The meeting is part of attempts by the both sides to keep communication lines open amid tensions in the disputed South China Sea as well as the Taiwan Strait.

Dong, China’s first naval commander to be defense minister, was appointed last December.

Beijing had snapped high-level military dialogue with Washington after then-US Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid an unannounced trip to Taiwan in August 2022.

However, when Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden met last November in San Francisco, the duo decided to resume communication lines.

While no US defense chief has visited China since Jim Mattis in 2018, the two sides held high-level military talks in November 2022 when Austin met former Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe in Cambodia.