Austin to see Chinese counterpart at Shangri-La security dialogue
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US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that he looks forward to cooperating with his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe and seeing him at the Shangri-La Dialogue on June 10 -12.
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Officials attend a bilateral meeting at the Asia Security Summit in Singapore, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, May 31, 2014 (AP/Wong Maye-E)
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that he looks forward to cooperating in the near future with his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe and will surely see him at the Shangri-La Dialogue, which will be held in Singapore between June 10 and 12.
During a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Austin said, "We both want to make sure that we work together to promote security and stability in the region, and so I look forward to again engaging him in the not-too-distant future. I’m sure I’ll see him at the Shangri-La Dialogue coming up in June.
Austin spoke with National Defense Minister Wei, in April, as a follow-up to a call between presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden. According to the Pentagon, the two leaders talked about issues such as the US-China relationship and the war in Ukraine.
The Institute for Strategic Studies convened the Shangri-La Dialogue, which is an annual event made to allow top defense officials and heads of state to meet in person to talk about security challenges. The Covid-19 pandemic prevented the event from taking place in 2020 and 2021.
US Air Force Chief: US more concerned about China than Russia
US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told an audience at the Brookings Institution on Monday that China poses a much more concerning threat to US capabilities than Russia.
"Of the two I am much more concerned about China than Russia," Kendall said. "They have the resources, they have the capability [and] they have the intent."
More to the point, the Secretary said that China has the time to mature its long-term military capabilities, which are designed to defeat the US' long-term capabilities to project its power around the world.
Explaining this, he said that China has the ambition to become the world's next great power.
"They have the ambition to be the great global power and to do that they have to basically displace the United States."
However, Kendall revealed he did not think China was interested in territorial expansion but was interested in maximizing its global influence so that it can set the rules for the world's economy.
