6 June 2024

Pentagon Chief Says War With China Neither Imminent nor Unavoidable

Feliz Solomon and Chun Han Wong

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that a war with China is neither imminent nor unavoidable, striking a nonconfrontational tone a day after his first face-to-face meeting with his Chinese counterpart.

Speaking at a security summit in Singapore on Saturday, Austin signaled that the Biden administration is seeking to cool tensions with China, despite an increase in friction following military activities by both countries around Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea.

“Our goal is to make sure that we don’t allow things to spiral out of control unnecessarily,” Austin said at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual gathering of defense officials organized by the London-based think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
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