The Chinese defense minister turns down a meeting with the head of the Pentagon

At a meeting of defense leaders in Laos, China’s defense minister turned down a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The Pentagon boss said Wednesday that this was a mistake.

In the past, talks between U.S. and Chinese defense leaders have taken place at multilateral groups of national security officials in Asia. However, China turned down Austin’s request for a meeting during this week’s Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Plus defense ministers meeting.

“It’s too bad.” Austin told reporters, “It affects the region because the region really wants to see us, you know, two important players in the region, two important powers, talk to each other.”

“It doesn’t seem to have any effects on the future.” “I just think it’s what they chose to do at this time, and they are the only ones who can explain why they didn’t take advantage of a good chance,” Austin said.

Early this year, Austin met Dong Jun, China’s defense minister, at a conference in Singapore. They talked about their differences on Taiwan and other problems, but stressed the need for military-to-military contact to stay open.

As he held his last talks with outgoing President Joe Biden on Saturday, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to work with the new U.S. government of Donald Trump. They talked about issues like trade, cyber crime, Taiwan, the South China Sea, and Russia.