U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he and his Chinese counterpart had not spoken for a “couple of months.”

The secretary of defense said in a Feb. 23 interview that Wei Fenghe, China’s Minister of National Defense, declined to take a call after the United States shot down the Chinese surveillance balloon.

Austin said it is “really important” for world leaders to maintain good communication in order to “avoid misperceptions and manage crises.”

“So we hope that minister Wei will have a change of heart and schedule that call. He knows where to find me,” Austin said on “CNN This Morning.”

“The last time that I talked to him was a couple of months ago,” he stated.

Tensions between the United States and China have been on the rise since the Chinese balloon, which they claimed was being used for meteorological purposes, was shot down by a U.S. fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina.

According to Austin, it’s still possible that Chinese Leader Xi Jinping was unaware of the balloon, but he said he would “let the Chinese speak for themselves.”

Austin made it clear that just because he and Wei haven’t spoken recently doesn’t mean there has been no U.S. contact with other Chinese officials.

“You just saw [Secretary of State Antony Blinken] talk to his counterpart in Munich,” he said Thursday. “And so there are diplomatic lines of communication open. But I think for the military, it’s really, really important that we maintain open lines of communication.”

Following the news that the balloon was of Chinese origin, Austin admitted that some were concerned the U.S. nuclear force capabilities could have been exposed. This was due to information about the balloon’s reported path near military sites, as The Epoch Times previously reported.

“We made sure that we were buttoned down and movement was limited and communications were limited so that we didn’t expose any capability unnecessarily,” Austin said when questioned about whether he was concerned.

Despite decreased communication, the United States has made it clear that lethal military aid to Russia would result in “consequences.”

Austin commented on concern over China’s possible involvement with the war in Ukraine saying China has a “lot of capability in terms of munitions and weapons,” Austin added, “and if they provide the substantial support to Russia, it prolongs the conflict.”

However, the defense secretary pointed out that “[T] here’s a reputational risk … I’m sure China would love to enjoy a good relationship with all the countries in Europe. And again, if you just look at the numbers of countries around the world that really think that what Russia has done is horrible.”

Austin said he thought it would be a “very ill-advised step for China to take.”

The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’s request for comment.