United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Saturday at a meeting of defense ministers in Singapore criticized China for its unwillingness to participate in the resolution of the military crisis after Beijing rejected an official invitation to a meeting between him and his counterpart. Written by DW.

" The more we talk, the more we can avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations that could lead to a crisis or conflict,"

Austin and his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangfu, briefly chatted and shook hands during a lunch to mark the opening of the defense summit in Singapore.. However, this interaction fell short of the Pentagon's hopes for a more meaningful exchange..

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A senior Chinese People's Liberation Army official strongly denied Austin's claim that Beijing was not sufficiently involved in the military crisis.. Lieutenant General Jing Jianfeng also said that China sticks to its belief that it has sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and nearby waters..

" The United States does not seek a new cold war.

Competition should never escalate into conflict,"

Meanwhile, Liu Penggu, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, accused the US of working against Beijing's interests..

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Recall that on the sidelines of the summit in Singapore, Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto proposed a peace plan for the war in Ukraine.. He called for the creation of a demilitarized zone and a UN referendum on the territory, which he called disputed..