Lloyd Austin ‘concerned’ that Chinese silence could lead to ‘incident’
Mike Brest
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Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin acknowledged he’s “concerned” that the silence from the Chinese Ministry of Defense could lead to an incident that could “spiral out of control.”
Austin is currently on a trip to the Indo-Pacific and made the comments during a press conference with Yasukazu Hamada, Japan’s minister of defense, on Thursday morning local time.
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Chinese military leaders have repeatedly ignored U.S. military officials’ outreach in recent months, dating back to the spy balloon incident in late February, though it continues.
“We’re going to continue to do what we are doing in this region and others, and that is to work with like-minded countries who share common values and common goals to continue to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said. “You’ve heard me talk a number of times about the importance of countries with significant capabilities, being able to talk to each other so you can manage crises and prevent things from spiraling out of control unnecessarily.”
“As we take a look at some of the things that China is doing, and in the international airspace in the region and international waterways, the provocative intercepts of our aircraft and also our allies’ aircraft,” the secretary said, “that’s very concerning, and we would hope that they would alter their actions, but since they haven’t yet, I’m concerned about, at some point, having an incident that could very, very quickly spiral out of control.”
The Chinese declined a meeting request from top U.S. defense officials, including Austin, for a meeting between him and Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu before the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore on Friday, a Department of Defense official told the Washington Examiner earlier this week.
Austin called the Chinese decision “unfortunate.”
“This is far from the first time that the PRC has rejected invitations to communicate from the secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or other department officials. Frankly, it’s just the latest in a litany of excuses. Since 2021, the PRC has declined or failed to respond to over a dozen requests,” a senior defense official told the Washington Examiner earlier this week.
As Austin referenced, late last week, a Chinese fighter pilot flew directly in front of the nose of a U.S. Air Force RC-135, forcing the U.S. aircraft to fly through its wake turbulence over the South China Sea.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command described the Chinese pilot’s action as “an unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” while the “RC-135 was conducting safe and routine operations over the South China Sea in international airspace, in accordance with international law.”
The U.S. military declassified and released a 30-second video of the incident from inside the U.S. aircraft showing the Chinese pilot’s intercept. The video starts by showing the other fighter jet from what appears to be on the right of the U.S. aircraft before it flies in front of it, and as that occurs, the cockpit can be seen jostling from the turbulence caused by the Chinese pilot.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a trip to China in early March after a Chinese surveillance balloon floated across U.S. airspace, including over sensitive military targets, before the military shot down that balloon off the Carolina coast. Chinese officials rejected the U.S. assessment that it was a surveillance balloon. Blinken’s trip has not yet been rescheduled, though U.S. officials have said they’re working on a trip that includes Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Tensions have also been strained by the Chinese military buildup in the South China Sea and its increasingly aggressive posture toward Taiwan, a self-governing island over which China claims sovereignty. The Chinese have often used perceived slights from the U.S. to engage in these more aggressive military maneuvers. Chinese government officials have indicated their willingness to take Taiwan by force, if necessary.