US and China Defense Ministers' First Face-to-Face Meeting on the 10th... US Seeks to Establish "Guardrails" to Prevent Clashes

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] US and Chinese defense ministers will meet for the first time on the 10th (local time) during the Singapore Asia Security Conference (Shangri-La Dialogue). This meeting between the heads of defense of the two countries will take place 17 months after the inauguration of the Biden administration, and the US is expected to seek to establish guardrails with China.

CNN reported on the 9th, citing multiple senior US Department of Defense officials, that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is expected to focus on partially establishing guardrails in his meeting with Chinese Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe. Austin and Wei have only spoken once by phone on April 20 and have never met in person.

This meeting is held during Austin's Asia tour at the official request of the Chinese military leadership amid rising tensions between the US and China in virtually all areas including security and economy. CNN stated that the two countries are taking preemptive measures to prevent intensified competition from escalating into conflict, and that a more mature crisis-related communication mechanism is required, which led to the holding of this meeting.

US officials said that in this meeting, the US hopes not only to establish a communication line at the highest level between defense authorities but also to build communication mechanisms between commanders at the theater level. A defense official said, "This is the top priority in defense relations with China," adding that the US maintains a relatively new China crisis communication working group. The official mentioned, "One of the basic rules we want to set with China is that we can characterize our positions, and they can characterize theirs," and "We are making every effort to ensure the talks are professional and substantive."

However, there are many expectations that the talks will not be smooth due to sharp issues involving both sides' interests, such as the Taiwan issue. Austin and Wei already clashed over issues including Taiwan and the Ukraine war during their phone call in April. A US Department of Defense official said, "The Taiwan issue will be prominently present in all of Austin's conversations," indicating that clashes are inevitable in this meeting as well.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.