US presses China to ease up on Taiwan as defence chiefs meet

Chinese Defence Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe (front), walks out after a meeting with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin at the venue of the Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia. - AP

PHNOM PENH (Bloomberg): US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin urged China to avoid "destabilising actions” toward Taiwan in his first face-to-face meeting with Defence Minister Wei Fenghe since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in August.

In talks Tuesday (Nov 22) in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the Pentagon chief also called for the two sides to maintain open lines of communication and warned of "increasingly dangerous behaviour” by Chinese military aircraft in the Indo-Pacific region, according to a statement and briefing by US officials after the meeting ended.