2023-06-01 09:26:42
China and Singapore on Thursday laid the groundwork for a hotline between the two countries that will open an avenue for high-level communications between Beijing and a close US ally in Asia at a time when tensions run high between China and Washington and the dialogue has stalled.
Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, a People’s Liberation Army general who was appointed to the post in March, signed a memorandum of understanding with his Singaporean counterpart Ng Eng Hen to work on establishing a secure hotline “for high-level communications between our defense leaders,” explained a statement issued by Singapore.
“These high-level open lines of communication are important to reinforce mutual understanding and trust,” the note added, without offering a precise timetable for their establishment.
Li is making his first visit to Singapore as defense minister and is discussing global and regional security issues with a number of officials. Singapore indicated that the defense institutions of both countries “regularly interact through bilateral and multilateral exercises” and the visit underscores “long-lasting, warm and friendly” relations.
At the same time, Singapore is a close military and economic ally of the United States, and the agreement to establish a direct telephone connection with China coincides with a tense moment in relations between Washington and Beijing.
While in Singapore, Li is scheduled to attend a summit of defense officials, diplomats and leaders on Sunday, but declined a US request for a separate meeting with its Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who will speak at the same conference. from the Shangri-La Dialogue a day earlier.
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Rising reported from Bangkok, Thailand.
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