Beijing blames US after defence chiefs’ talks rejected, cites support for Taiwan

US cannot undermine Beijing’s core interests on Taiwan and try talk to its military ‘as if nothing had happened’, defence ministry says

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China’s Dong Jun at the ADMM-Plus in Vientiane, Laos on Thursday. He reportedly declined to meet the US defence secretary. Photo: AP

Published: 10:59pm, 21 Nov 2024Updated: 11:58pm, 21 Nov 2024

China on Thursday defended its rejection of a defence chiefs’ meeting with the United States, blaming it on Washington’s support for Taipei.

Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun on Wednesday reportedly declined to meet his US counterpart Lloyd Austin on the margins of a regional security meeting in Laos.

Austin said the decision was “unfortunate … because the region really wants to see … two significant players in the region, two significant powers, talk to each other”.

But Dong’s ministry squarely blamed the US for the two sides failing to hold talks at the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM)-Plus.

“The responsibility lies fully with the American side,” ministry spokesman Wu Qian said in Beijing on Thursday.

“The US side cannot undermine China’s core interests on the Taiwan issue, yet at the same time try to conduct exchanges with the [mainland] Chinese military as if nothing had happened.”

Wu urged the US to “immediately correct its mistakes” and strive to create favourable conditions for high-level military exchanges.