Bid for dominance over Asia Pacific tests US, China attempt at detente

US defence chief Lloyd Austin hails a ‘new era of security’ in the Asia Pacific, drawing a strong pushback from a senior Chinese official.

Defence chief Lloyd Austin has praised a “new era of security” in the Asia Pacific as he underscored that the region remained a major strategic priority for the United States, drawing a quick pushback from a senior Chinese military official.

Austin made the statement on Saturday, a day after holding a crucial meeting in Singapore with his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, during which they agreed to resume military-to-military communications amid efforts to ease growing tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

China hailed Friday’s face-to-face talks and the agreement to mend fraying security ties as “stabilising”. But competition and tensions over a slew of issues – from Taiwan to the South China Sea – continue to test the resolve of both countries.

On Saturday, Austin said that in the past three years there had been a “new convergence around nearly all aspects of security” in the region, where there was a shared understanding of “the power of partnership”.

“This new convergence is producing a stronger, more resilient and more capable network of partnerships and that is defining a new era of security” in the region, Austin told the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.