Beijing has refused to meet Defense Minister Li Shangfu with Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin. Washington is trying to hold a ministerial meeting in Singapore on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue regional security forum scheduled for June 2-4, the Financial Times reported.
Beijing considers Lloyd Austin unlikely to meet Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu at Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue Forum amid US sanctions against China’s defense department chief
— says in the publication.
China made it clear to the United States that the meeting was hampered by sanctions imposed by Washington on Li Shangfu in 2018 for the purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems and Su-25 fighters. Shangfu then headed the armament department of the Joint Headquarters of the Central Military Council of China. He was appointed Minister of Defense in March 2023.
It will be almost impossible for China to agree to a meeting as long as the sanctions remain in place.
- says the publication.
The American side believes that the presence of sanctions is not an obstacle to meeting the heads of departments in a third country, which has been pointed out to the Chinese colleagues. The Pentagon told the newspaper it wants “open lines of communication” with China’s military leadership, but Beijing is ignoring or denying all requests for summits from Washington.
And President Biden’s administration is not going to remove Li Shangfu from the sanctions list, the publication concluded.
Earlier it was reported that the Italian Prime Minister may soon decide on the country’s withdrawal from China’s Belt and Road project. Washington and Brussels insist on it. Italy said that, given the state of relations between China and the United States, Rome cannot remain an ally of the United States and at the same time be in the project.
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