The Chinese defense ministry declined an invitation for a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is in the Pacific region this week, the latest hurdle in a rocky relationship between the defense leaders of both countries.
Austin had hoped to meet his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, at the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus this week in Laos, according to the Associated Press. The secretary, over the course of his tenure, has repeatedly tried to maintain open lines of communication with Beijing to ensure there are no miscommunications, though Beijing has often rebuffed U.S. requests.
“It’s unfortunate. It affects the region because the region really wants to see us, two significant players in the region, two significant powers, talk to each other, and that reassures the entire region,” Austin said, adding that it is “a setback for the whole region.”
China pointed to a recent U.S. sale of weapons to Taiwan as the rationale behind the decision to decline the meeting.
In late October, the U.S. approved a $2 billion arms sale to Taiwan, which included multiple advanced surface-to-air missile systems for the first time. The package includes three National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and related equipment valued at $1.16 billion and radar systems valued at an estimated $828 million, according to the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the sale “seriously undermine[s] China’s sovereignty and security interests, harm[s] China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” and the ministry added that it “strongly condemns and firmly opposes this and has lodged serious protests with the U.S.”
President Joe Biden met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Peru on the sidelines of the G20 Summit last Saturday. The two dignitaries have found common ground on which their interests align on counternarcotic efforts, climate change, and artificial intelligence despite their continued disagreements on several other topics, such as Taiwan.
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“The two leaders, of course, also spoke about areas of difference and areas of friction in the relationship, including U.S. concerns over the PRC’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base,” Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. “And in this context, President Biden reiterated his grave concern over the fact that the DPRK has deployed a significant number of troops to Western Russia to participate in the battle against Ukraine, in the war against Ukraine.”
Sullivan said Biden did not act as “a conduit for messages” between Xi and President-elect Donald Trump.