China accused the United States on Tuesday of “being the cause of the difficulties” for a dialogue between the armies of both countries and asked Washington to create “the necessary conditions and atmosphere” for consultations to take place.
“The United States should be aware that it is the cause of the difficulties for dialogue between the Armies of both countries. The United States must respect China’s sovereignty and concerns and show sincerity,” Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press conference.
Mao added that the US must “create the necessary conditions and atmosphere for dialogue” after, according to the US press, Beijing rejected an invitation from Washington for the defense representatives of both countries to meet this week in Singapore. .
The US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangfu, will meet at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum, which is being held between this Friday and Sunday in Singapore.
One of the main drawbacks for the ministerial meeting to take place is that Li, who was appointed defense minister last March, was sanctioned in 2018 by the United States accused of buying weapons from the Russian state company Rosoboronexport.
In this sense, Mao pointed out that “we must ask ourselves if the ‘rejection’ actually comes from the US sanctions”, and called on Washington to “correct its bad practices”.
Austin plans to arrive in the Asian city-state at the end of the week to participate in the forum on Saturday, where his Chinese counterpart – who took office in March – will give a speech this Sunday.
The US representative has already taken advantage of the Singapore appointment in 2022 to meet with Li’s predecessor, Wei Fenghe, with whom he met again in Cambodia at the end of the year.
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, revealed on May 21 during the G20 meeting (a group made up of the countries with the most developed and most emerging economies) in Japan that he is considering lifting the sanctions on the Chinese minister. defense.
Relations between the two powers have returned to a point of tension after the Biden government shot down an alleged Chinese “spy” balloon that flew over the United States in late January and fell over Atlantic waters on February 4.
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