The pair met on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, a regional safety summit, the primary time such a gathering has taken place since Austin met his Chinese language counterpart in 2022.
Since then, Beijing has twice changed its protection minister, and likewise minimize off high-level military-to-military dialogue for 15 months in protest over a go to to Taiwan by then Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
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Beijing solely agreed to reopen these communication channels in November when President Biden met Chinese language chief Xi Jinping in California. Dong and Austin spoke by telephone final month.
Dong, a 62-year-old former head of the Chinese language navy, was appointed in December, changing Li Shangfu 4 months after Li abruptly disappeared from public view.
The reshuffle is a part of broader marketing campaign by Chinese language chief Xi Jinping seeks to root out corruption and streamline the command construction to show the Individuals’s Liberation Military right into a “world-class” combating power in a position to go toe-to-toe with america.
As protection minister, Dong’s position is primarily about navy diplomacy. Operations and technique are set by Xi and senior members of the Chinese language Communist Occasion’s Central Army Fee. Dong, in contrast to his predecessor, just isn’t even a member of the fee.
Navigating China’s rise and its elevated frustration on the American presence in areas Beijing considers its yard — together with the South China Sea — has change into a prime precedence for international locations in Southeast and East Asia, particularly amongst these international locations that wish to strengthen commerce and financial ties with China whereas counting on america for protection.
China’s “financial, diplomatic and safety coercion has been uneasily felt” by its neighbors, mentioned the Worldwide Institute for Strategic Research, the London-based suppose tank that organizes the Shangri-La Dialogue, in its annual evaluation of regional safety priorities launched on Friday.
“Managing the anxiousness over China’s coercion whereas being bullish over its financial prospects is now a relentless preoccupation for a lot of policymakers” within the area, the report mentioned.
Whereas Beijing’s aggression has created rising push again from the Philippines and different claimants within the South China Sea, it has succeeded in deepening its financial and safety relationship with international locations like Cambodia.
U.S. officers say China has secretly constructed a brand new naval base in northern Cambodia, although each international locations deny it. “China by no means says no to us,” mentioned a Cambodian safety analyst primarily based in Phnom Penh who spoke on the situation of anonymity. “Ninety p.c of what we ask for, they offer.”
China has invested billions of {dollars} in Cambodia to improve navy amenities and construct new infrastructure, although it’s not clear, mentioned the analyst, what they need in return. “They need one thing. However what’s it they need? It’s a good query. We don’t know,” he mentioned.
