On Saturday, when Austin took to the stage at the summit where global defense leaders gathered, he called out China for refusing to engage in military dialogue.
China believes that a major country should behave like one," Li said Sunday in a translation provided by summit organizers.
China claims self-governed Taiwan as part of its territory and regards any foreign presence near the island as a form of interference in its domestic affairs.
China's Minister for National Defense, General Li Shangfu, delivers his plenary session Sunday at the 20th Asia Security Summit in Singapore, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.
Calls for dialogueYet, even as the U.S. and China defense chiefs talked past each other, so-called middle powers such as Australia urged the two feuding powers to reestablish dialogue.
Persons:
Li Shangfu, Lloyd Austin, Austin, China's Li, Li, Defense Lloyd Austin, Roslan Rahman, Philippines —, General Li Shangfu, Anthony Albanese
Organizations:
American, Defense, China's Defense, Afp, Getty, Pacific Command, Delegates, China's, National Defense, 20th Asia Security Summit, Australian
Locations:
SINGAPORE, Singapore, Beijing, China, U.S, Taiwan, People's Republic of China, South China, Asia, Pacific, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Estonia, Sweden, Germany, Australia, Japan, South Korea, India, France