Taiwan on agenda at Shangri-La Dialogue as China, US defence chiefs to come face to face
- Wei Fenghe and Lloyd Austin expected to hold talks on the sidelines of the Singapore gathering
- Chinese delegation could push Austin on Biden’s comments about US willingness to aid the island
“There are many topics Austin wants to discuss with Wei, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang, and other regional and global issues,” said the source, who declined to be identified.
The two defence chiefs had their first phone call in April after communication was stalled by a protocol wrangle in which Austin refused to speak to Wei, and requested to talk to Xu Qiliang, vice-chairman of the PLA’s Central Military Commission.
Lloyd Austin looks to ‘engage in the future’ with China’s Wei Fenghe
Zhou Chenming, a researcher from the Yuan Wang military science and technology think tank, said Beijing was concerned about US attempts to reverse policy on Taiwan and bilateral ties.
“For Beijing, the US was just repeating clichés without any practical measures when dealing with China, just putting pressure on Beijing and never wanting to make any compromise,” Zhou said.
“The Americans also came up with a lot of new ways to play up and improve ties with Taiwan, including updating arms sale weapon lists, and editing the wording on the ‘fact sheet’ describing its Taiwan policy.”
“All those are signs implying the Americans are going to blur strategic relations with mainland China, and attempt to adjust the long-standing ‘strategic ambiguity’ over Taiwan policy,” Zhou said.
The fact sheet also deleted a long-time position that the US “does not support Taiwan independence”, and lauded Taiwan as a leading democracy and a technological powerhouse. But the line about independence was later added back.
“The Taiwan issue is always the most explosive topic between China and the US, and Wei should be very well-prepared this time, because Beijing needs a good answer form the Pentagon ahead of the Communist Party’s national congress [in mid-autumn],” Lee said.
“The Biden administration’s new approaches in Taiwan policy aim at helping the Democratic Party win in the upcoming midterm elections, but in the eyes of Beijing, all the new changes would cause irreversible political problems that could trigger military conflicts between the two militaries.”
Ni Lexiong, professor in the department of political science at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said the ongoing fights between Russia and Ukraine and China’s ambiguous stance on Moscow’s invasion had dragged Beijing into a dilemma.
But it could also be a chance for China and the US to ease their tensions, Ni said.
“The Ukraine war reminds the whole world how dreadful the consequences of a modern war could be, and a war for Taiwan involving the world’s two superpowers would definitely be catastrophic,” he said.
Wang delivered the assessment at an online forum on Henry Kissinger and the China-US relations last Tuesday.
The annual Shangri-La Dialogue is on once again after a two-year break because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The organiser, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the nuclear threats in North Korea and Iran, as well as security cooperation between the US and its allies in the region, were expected to be major sources of discussion at the event.