China, Protection Minister hopes for ‘navy exchanges with the USA’

(ANSA) – SINGAPORE, JUNE 02 – “Beijing wants extra navy exchanges with the US”, Chinese language Protection Minister Dong Jun stated, after the protection chiefs of the 2 international locations held their first face-to-face talks in 18 months. Dong made his remarks on the ongoing Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, a significant safety discussion board the place he met US Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday. “We have now all the time been open to exchanges and cooperation, however this requires each events meet midway”, stated Dong. “We consider that extra exchanges with the USA are mandatory – continued the Chinese language protection primary – exactly as a result of there are variations between our two armies”. Dong and Austin met for greater than an hour on the resort internet hosting the discussion board, which is attended by protection officers from all over the world and has turn into a barometer of U.S.-China relations lately. After the assembly, Austin stated the phone conversations between US and Chinese language navy commanders will resume “within the coming months”, whereas Beijing praised the “stabilization” of safety relations between the 2 international locations. (HANDLE).