China seeks dialogue, says clash with US would be ‘unbearable disaster’
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Conflict with the United States would be an “unbearable disaster,” Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu said Sunday, adding that his country seeks dialog over confrontation.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia’s top security summit, he said the world was big enough for China and the US to grow together – remarks made days after he refused to meet his US counterpart for direct talks.
“China and the US have different systems and are different in many other ways,” Li said in a speech that marked his first significant international address since he was named China’s Minister of National Defense in March. “However, this should not keep the two sides from seeking common ground and common interests to grow bilateral ties and deepen cooperation. It is undeniable that a severe conflict or confrontation between China and the US will be an unbearable disaster for the world.”
Wearing the general’s uniform of the People’s Liberation Army, he made his address on the 34th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Ties between Washington and Beijing are badly strained over a range of issues, including democratically governed Taiwan, territorial disputes in the South China Sea and President Joe Biden’s restrictions on semiconductor chip exports.
As delegates at the summit debated the risks of accidents and miscalculations amid those tensions, the US Navy said a Chinese destroyer had made “unsafe” maneuvers near a US warship in the Taiwan Straits on Saturday, highlighting the dangers.
China’s military criticized the US and Canada for “deliberately provoking risk” after their warships staged a rare joint sail through the sensitive strait.
US Indo-Pacific Command said US and Canadian ships were operating routinely and under high-seas freedoms.
Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said Canada would continue to sail where international law allows, including the Taiwan Straits, and that “actors in this region must engage responsibly.”
In his speech, Li said China would not allow such freedom-of-navigation patrols by the US and its allies to be “a pretext to exercise hegemony of navigation.”
Richard Marles, the Australian deputy prime minister and defense minister, said his country’s efforts to improve its military capabilities and presence in the region were aimed at “playing our part in contributing to the collective security of the Pacific and the maintenance of the rulesbased order.”
“It is a point I made that we have repeatedly made to the region and to the world since we announced the optimal pathway to acquiring nuclear-powered submarine capability,” he said on the sidelines of the security meeting, referring to the AUKUS pact with the US and Britain.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin rebuked China in a speech at the summit on Saturday for refusing to hold military talks, leaving the superpowers deadlocked over their differences.
Dialog “is not a reward, but a necessity,” he said.