The United States is working to organize a meeting between Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Secretary Li Shangfu. About it writes Bloomberg, citing sources.
According to them, Washington wants Austin and Li Shangfu to meet in Singapore on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue regional security forum. This event is scheduled to take place June 2-4.
The last time the heads of the military departments held a meeting was in June 2022, also in Singapore on the sidelines of the same forum. However, after then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022, relations between the countries deteriorated. In this connection, the defense departments have not held face-to-face negotiations for almost a year.
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs April 2 spoke about situation around Taiwan. In his opinion, the conflict over Taiwan is not in anyone’s interests, it will have serious consequences for the whole world.
Taiwan has had its own administration since 1949. However, China considers it one of its provinces and advocates the observance of the “one China” principle.
