U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is unlikely to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangfu, writes Financial Times (FT) citing their own sources.
According to the newspaper, Washington is trying to arrange a meeting between Austin and Li Shangfu in Singapore on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in June.
At the same time, Beijing made it clear that the meeting was blocked by the United States five years ago because of sanctions imposed on Li Shangfu for China’s purchase of Russian Su-35 warplanes and S-400 air defense systems.
However, according to the newspaper, Washington believes that the existence of sanctions did not prevent Austin and Li Shangfu from meeting in a third country, and reported this to Beijing. However, according to FT sources, the PRC will almost certainly reject this offer.
At the same time, the Pentagon said it was interested in having communication channels with the Chinese military, but Beijing is ignoring or refusing these requests from the United States.
Earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with US Ambassador Nicholas Burns stated On the need for US officials to rethink their policies towards China.