US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stressed on Saturday that the United States, which is defending a “new era of security” through regional alliances and partnerships, cannot “be safe unless Asia is safe.”
Austin, who stressed that the Asia-Pacific region remains a “priority” for Washington, spoke the day after rare talks on the sidelines of a defense forum in Singapore with his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun, which a Beijing spokesman described as “positive.”
“The United States cannot be safe unless Asia is safe,” Austin said during the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual defense forum that continues until Sunday. “For this reason, the United States has long maintained a presence in this region.”
He added that, despite conflicts in other regions of the world, the Indo-Pacific region “remains a priority theater of operations for us.”
From Japan to Australia, the United States has been deepening its defense ties in the region, intensifying joint military exercises, and regularly deploying warships and combat aircraft in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, much to Beijing’s anger.
– Resuming the dialogue
Dong and Austin’s meeting yesterday, Friday, was the first in-depth meeting between the two countries’ defense ministers in 18 months, raising hopes for continuing a military dialogue that might contribute to preventing conflicts from getting out of control.
Austin said that the United States and China will resume military contacts “in the coming months.” For its part, Beijing welcomed the “stability” of security relations between the two countries.
Austin added on Saturday, “I told Secretary Dong that if he called me about an urgent matter, I would answer the phone. I certainly hope he will do the same.”
The US Secretary stressed that “a new era of security in the Indo-Pacific region” has begun to emerge, and that the matter is not a matter of “imposing the will of a country” nor “intimidation or coercion.”
Austin added, “This new rapprochement is about union, not division. It is about the free choice of sovereign nations.”
The Philippines, linked to the United States under a mutual defense treaty, has become at the heart of Washington’s efforts in the region.
Support from the Philippines, a country bordering the South China Sea and close to Taiwan, would be crucial for the United States in the event of a conflict.
Austin stressed on Saturday that the United States’ commitment to defend the Philippines, under the Mutual Defense Treaty, remains “unwavering.”
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