The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the Chinese regime has declined a request from the United States Department of Defense to meet with the Chinese Ministry of Defense. The publication reported that, despite the fact that there was no reason to believe the meeting would not take place, Beijing had made an unexpected last-minute rejection to Washington.
There have been rumors circulating over the past few days that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is eager to meet with his Chinese counterpart. This encounter, he hoped, could take place during the Shangri-La Security Dialogue, which ran from May 31st to June 4th.Austin did the same in 2022, considering these meetings usually occur without too much planning.
The Pentagon told the Journal that China informed them overnight that they would not be attending the reunion in Singapore as planned in May. The tabloid said Washington was quite curious about the meeting because Li Shangfu was so recently appointed as China’s defense minister. The Pentagon apparently went to the uncommon length of contacting him directly in order to set up the meeting with Austin.
The Biden administration cut off all communications with the Chinese Ministry of Defense after ordering the dismantling of a Chinese spy balloon. This one traversed the United States by air and even gathered secret data on US military installations. This has been the most fraught period in bilateral relations in what has been called a new “Cold War,” according to experts.
The publication claims that since then, Gina Raimondo, the US Secretary of Commerce, and Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Adviser, have met with their foreign counterparts multiple times. Nicholas Burns, the U.S. Ambassador to China, met with Qin Gang, China’s Foreign Minister, face to face. However, despite repeated invitations, China has repeatedly declined to have a conversation with the United States’ military minister.
