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China has declined the United States' request for a meeting between their defense chiefs at an annual security gathering in Singapore this weekend, as per media reports.

"Overnight, the PRC informed the US that they have declined our early May invitation for Secretary Austin to meet with PRC Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu in Singapore," the Pentagon said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal.

The Pentagon stated that open communication is important "to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict."

Last week, White House spokesperson John Kirby said the Defense Department was discussing starting talks between Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart, who was appointed defense minister in March.

Concurrently, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao clashed over trade, investment, and export policies at a meeting in Washington that represented the first cabinet-level dialogue between the US and China in months.

Austin and Li will be in Singapore for the annual Shangri-la Dialogue, which begins on Friday. The Shangri-la Dialogue is an informal gathering of defense officials and experts that also hosts a number of side sessions.

Both are anticipated to conduct bilateral discussions with regional colleagues.

The big picture

The United States proposed a meeting at the level of defense ministers with China at the Shangri-La Dialogue set to take place in Singapore next week.

Washington recently sought to restore talks with top officials in China after relations soured in recent months, especially in light of the Chinese alleged spy balloon incident and Washington's increased militarization of countries surrounding China.

There have been plans for a meeting last week between commerce and trade officials in the wake of discussions that took place earlier in the month between the US National Security Advisor and China's top diplomat.

Without directly responding to the US request, China said it was concerned about US sanctions that the country had imposed on Li years ago over his alleged role in a Chinese arms purchase from Russia.

A veteran Chinese diplomat had said in April that unless the United States fundamentally changes its attitude toward China, there's no point in talks on ways to safeguard the relationship, Bloomberg reported.

"China-US relations are very much strained," as per Xu Bu, the head of the China Institute of International Studies, a think tank affiliated with the Chinese Foreign Ministry. "One of the most important causes is that the United States is worried that China may surpass it."

Tensions mounted again last month between the two countries after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met made a provocative visit to the US and met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, prompting China to condemn the talks and stage three days of military drills around Taiwan.

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