A war with China is neither imminent nor inevitable. This was stated by US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin at the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore.
On Friday, he met with China's Defense Minister Dong Jun for over an hour to, according to Reuters news agency, try to reduce friction on issues such as Taiwan and China's military activity in the South China Sea.
This was the first meeting between the two since contacts were broken off in 2022 after the then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, irritated China by visiting Taiwan.
China considers self-governing Taiwan to be part of its territory and has said that it will take over the island at some point, by force if necessary. In a time of increased tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, Austin emphasizes the importance of dialogue with his Chinese counterpart to avoid "mistakes and misunderstandings".
