Mattis tries to ease tensions with China

SINGAPORE — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis tried to lower the temperature on the array of hostilities between Washington and Beijing on Thursday, saying it is up to the militaries of the two competing global superpowers to act as a stabilizing force amid rising political tensions.

During an hour-anda-half meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Mattis sanded down some of the sharp edges from Vice President Mike Pence’s pointed critique of China this month. Mattis urged the two militaries to talk through their many differences and even repeated an invitation for Wei Fenghe, China’s defense minister, to visit the United States, according to a senior Defense Department official who was in the meeting.

But the cordial tone belied deep tensions that showed no signs of abating Thursday. China, as it usually does, brushed off Mattis’ complaints about Beijing’s continued militarization of disputed islands in the South China Sea.

Meanwhile, other countries present at a meeting in Singapore of Southeast Asian nations continued to resist U.S. entreaties to add their voices to the U.S. challenge of China’s claims in the disputed area. And two of those countries — Malaysia and Thailand — even prepared for a joint naval exercise with China that U.S. officials worry is part of a larger effort by Beijing to peel away U.S. allies.

The biggest source of tension between the Pentagon and Beijing continues to be the South China Sea. China claims almost all the South China Sea and strongly protests U.S. military patrols there. The United States considers the sea to be international waters.

During his talk with Wei, Mattis introduced a new dynamic into the standard talking points over the South China Sea issue, according to Randall G. Schriver, the Pentagon’s top official for Asia and the Pacific, who was in the meeting. Mattis sought to convey what he said were concerns of other Asia-Pacific countries over Chinese claims on the South China Sea.

“He talked about the reactions that he hears from other countries and their concern and confusion over China’s actions not necessarily matching their words,” Schriver said.