Shangri-La Dialogue: US defence chief pushes ‘new convergence’ in Indo-Pacific while pledging more talks with China
- Washington seeks peaceful resolution of disputes, ‘not coercion’, says US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin at Singapore security forum
- He says if Chinese counterpart Dong Jun calls with urgent matter, ‘I will pick up the phone’
Washington is seeking a “new convergence” in resolving disputes through dialogue, “not coercion and certainly not through so-called punishment”, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin said on Saturday, stressing the importance of alliances and partnership in the Indo-Pacific.
“The key issue is that we’re talking. And as long as we’re talking, we’re able to identify those issues that are troublesome and [ …] we want to make sure that we place guardrails to ensure that there are no misperceptions or miscalculations,” Austin said in response to questions after the speech.
He added that if his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun calls with an urgent matter, “I will answer the phone. And I certainly hope that he’ll do the same”.
During the meeting, Austin emphasised the “importance of maintaining open lines of military-to-military communication” between Washington and Beijing and “welcomed plans to convene a crisis-communications working group by the end of the year”, according to the Pentagon.
