Pentagon: China refused to accept a US invitation to a meeting between the two defense ministers

The Pentagon announced on Monday that Beijing refused to accept an invitation to hold a meeting in Singapore between the defense ministers of the two countries Lloyd Austin and Lee Shangfu.

Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said: "The People's Republic of China's unwillingness to engage in meaningful military talks is troubling, (but) it will not weaken the commitment of (the Department of Defense) to seek to open lines of communication with the PLA."

He described a senior Defense Ministry official who declined to accept the invitation as "the latest in a series of excuses" and said that as of 2021, China "either rejected or did not respond to more than 12 Defense Department requests for communication between the two commands, several requests for permanent dialogues, and about 10 communication requests at the task force level."

The US administration imposed sanctions on Lee in 2018 for buying Russian weapons, but the Pentagon maintains that this does not prevent Austin from formally dealing with him.

Austin is due to travel to Singapore later this week for the Shangri-La Dialogue, the defense summit, where he met in June with former Chinese Defense Minister Wei Feng.

Earlier in 2022, Wei and Austin held another meeting in Cambodia, but tensions between Washington and Beijing have escalated this year over several files, including Taiwan and the United States' accusation that China launched a spy balloon over its territory, which was shot down by an American fighter jet after flying over the country.

Austin and other U.S. officials are strengthening alliances and partnerships in Asia as part of efforts to counter China's growing influence, with early indications that the two sides are seeking to contain tensions, AFP reported.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met China's top foreign affairs official Wang Yi in the Austrian capital earlier this month.

US President Joe Biden recently said relations between Washington and Beijing should "improve very soon" after a Chinese balloon helped inflame tensions between them.