Chinese Defence Minister says world was big enough for China and the US to grow together…reports Asian Lite News
Seeking dialogue over confrontation with the United States Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu warned that any conflict between the two nations would bring “unbearable disaster for the world”.
Li while speaking at Asia’s top security summit, the Shangri-La Dialogue, on Sunday said that the world was big enough for China and the US to grow together. “China and the US have different systems and are different in many other ways,” he said in a speech that marked his first significant international address since he was named defence minister in March.
He said: “However, this should not keep the two sides from seeking common ground and common interests to grow bilateral ties and deepen cooperation.”
“It is undeniable that a severe conflict or confrontation between China and the US will be an unbearable disaster for the world.”
Ties between Washington and Beijing are strained over a range of issues, including democratically ruled Taiwan, territorial disputes in the South China Sea and US President Joe Biden’s restrictions on semiconductor chip exports.
The US Military in their latest row on Saturday alleged that the Chinese navy carried out “unsafe maneuvers” near a US destroyer transiting the sensitive Taiwan Strait, while Beijing accused Washington of provoking risks and undermining peace and stability in the region by encouraging “pro-independence forces” in Taipei.
Earlier on Sunday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told the meeting in Singapore that Washington was “deeply committed” to preserving the status quo in self-ruled Taiwan that Beijing claims as its own territory.
He also rebuked China for refusing to hold military talks, leaving the superpowers deadlocked over their differences.
“I am deeply concerned that the PRC (People’s Republic of China) has been unwilling to engage more seriously on better mechanisms for crisis management between our two militaries,” Austin told the meeting in Singapore.
“The more that we talk, the more that we can avoid the misunderstandings and miscalculations that could lead to crisis or conflict.”
He added that Washington would not “flinch in the face of bullying or coercion” from China and would continue regularly sailing through and flying over the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea to emphasise they are international waters, countering Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims in the region.
Li, whom the US sanctioned in 2018 over weapon purchases from Russia, shook hands with Austin at a dinner on Friday, but the two have not had a deeper discussion, despite Washington’s repeated demands for more military exchanges.
‘We are not trying to establish NATO in Indo-Pacific’
The United States is not trying to establish the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the Indo-Pacific region, Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin said on Monday adding that the nation will continue to work with like-minded countries to ensure that the region remains free and open.
While answering a media query over the Chinese defence minister’s statement, Austin said at a press conference, “We are absolutely not trying to establish a NATO in the Indo-Pacific. We continue to work with like-minded countries to ensure that the region remains free and open so that commerce can prosper and ideas can continue to be exchanged.” “We will continue that work. Certainly, India and us share the same vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he added.
This came in response to China’s statement on NATO. Earlier, Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu warned against NATO-like military alliances in the Asia-Pacific, saying they would plunge the region into a “whirlpool” of conflict.
Addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, he said, “In essence, attempts to push for NATO-like (alliances) in the Asia-Pacific is a way of kidnapping regional countries and exaggerating conflicts and confrontations, which will only plunge the Asia-Pacific into a whirlpool of disputes and conflicts.”
Austin arrived in India on Sunday and is currently on a four-nation visit. India is the third stop, after visiting Japan and Singapore.
Meanwhile, on the probability of the misadventures that can take place in the India-China Line of Actual Control (LAC), Austin said, “In terms of what could happen along the LAC, I won’t get into any kind of speculation, but a number of things can always happen.. but want to make sure that we do everything we can to ensure that things don’t happen. And part of that is being able to communicate with great powers, and with each other to prevent things from incidents escalating out of control. So I won’t… to speculate as to whether or not there’ll be additional misadventure, but I certainly hope not.”
Earlier today, Austin and Union Minister Rajnath Singh held the bilateral meeting and delegation-level talks where they concluded a roadmap for Defence Industrial Cooperation which will identify opportunities for the co-development of new technologies and co-production of existing and new systems as well as facilitate increased collaboration between defence start-up ecosystems of the two countries. (ANI)