(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) On Monday, China rejected a request for a meeting of Department of Defense ministers with the United States, the Daily Caller reported.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had intended to meet with his Chinese counterpart, much as has been done in the past.
But China, with relations continuing to sour between the two nations, abruptly declined the request for a meeting.
“Overnight, the PRC [China] informed the U.S. that they have declined our early May invitation for Secretary Austin to meet with PRC Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu in Singapore this week,” the Pentagon reportedly said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal.
Shangfu is China’s new defense minister, naturally leading Americans to want to meet in order to hash out the grounds of their relations.
Despite evidence that the Biden family is compromised by the Chinese communist government, tensions during President Joe Biden’s administration have escalated. The Asian superpower has recently allied itself with Russia and several other major oil-producing countries.
Nonetheless, Pentagon officials reaffirmed their commitment to open communication with China.
“The Department believes strongly in the importance of maintaining open lines of military-to-military communication between Washington and Beijing to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict,” the Pentagon reportedly wrote.
As national-defense relations crumble, other Biden officials have managed, at least, to arrange a meeting with their Chinese counterparts.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with Chinese security officials, and U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns had a conversation with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.
However, the two defense administrations seem to be increasingly hostile in their relations.
“We’ve had a lot of difficulty, in terms of when we have proposed phone calls, proposed meetings, dialogues” said Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security.
Ratner cited in particular Chinese concerns about United States sanctions placed on Gen. Li Shangfu as the primary reason for China’s unwillingness to cooperate.
Still, Ratner noted, the sanctions have no legal ramifications, meaning that “the ball is in their court at this point.”
