US defence secretary terms cancellation of talks with Chinese counterpart as ‘unfortunate’

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has termed the cancellation of a meeting between him and his Chinese counterpart by Beijing as "unfortunate". Washington had reportedly invited China's Minister of National Defence Li Shangfu to hold talks with Austin on the sidelines of a defence summit in Singapore this week. 

"You've heard me talk a number of times about the importance of countries with large, with significant capabilities, being able to talk to each other so you can manage crises and prevent things from spiralling out of control unnecessarily," said Austin, who is currently in Tokyo. 

"We would hope that they would alter their actions, but since they haven't yet, I'm concerned about at some point having an incident that could very, very quickly spiral out of control," he added.

Austin was referring to the recent "provocative" manoeuvre in front of a US aircraft by China and called it a "very concerning" development. Both Austin and Li are expected to address the Shangri-La dialogue on Saturday. 

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Beijing blames Washington 

Though Beijing didn't officially snub the meet invite, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning on Tuesday blamed the US for the recent escalation in tension. It said Washington should  “earnestly respect China’s sovereignty and security interests and concerns, immediately correct the wrongdoing, show sincerity, and create the necessary atmosphere and conditions for dialogue and communication between the two militaries". 

The aircraft incident 

Notably, last week, a Chinese plane “flew directly in front of and within 400 feet of the nose of the RC-135, forcing the US aircraft to fly through its wake turbulence". In a declassified video footage, a fighter plane is seen crossing in front of the American aircraft which appears to be shaking due to the resulting turbulence.

A senior US defence official stated that there has been an “alarming increase in the number of risky aerial intercepts and confrontations at sea” by Chinese aircraft and ships – actions that “have the potential to create an unsafe incident or miscalculation”.

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Relations at an all-time low

Despite the cancellation, experts are of the view that the meeting would have been a futile attempt to bridge any tension between the two countries. Last year, Austin met Li's predecessor Wei Fenge at Shangri-La Dialogue privately but the meeting did little to mend the deteriorating ties. 

Since the spy balloon incident earlier this year and the subsequent cancellation of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Beijing, the relations have remained frosty. Declining the US invite is being seen as an attempt by Beijing to even the scales. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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