The 20th Shangri-La Dialogue was held in Singapore from 2 to 4 June. The Chinese side has confirmed that Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Li Shangfu will be invited to attend the dialogue, which is also Li Shangfu's first participation in the "incense meeting" after taking up his new post as Chinese defense minister this year.
However, just as the "incense meeting" was held, the heads of two US departments once again expressed their desire to hold dialogues with China. It is reported that on May 25, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Security Affairs in the "Indo-Pacific Region" Eli Ratner said at a forum hosted by the US think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies that the Pentagon had submitted a request to China for a meeting between the two defense ministers at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in June, but China "has not replied so far." As everyone knows, China refused the United States' request for a meeting.
However, the United States has not given up on seeking opportunities for dialogue between China and the United States, according to a report by the Russian News Agency on June 1, Lloyd Austin, head of the Pentagon, said in an interview with the Nikkei a few days ago that it is extremely important to keep the channels of dialogue with China open. He stressed that despite its differences, the United States is willing to continue to seek unimpeded access. That said, the U.S. Secretary of Defense still wants to have a dialogue with China. In addition, the head of another department in the United States also made a similar statement.
According to a June 1 report by the Observer Network, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken "reiterated the importance of maintaining regular and open channels of communication with Beijing" at a press conference held in Sweden during his visit to Sweden. At the same time, he also said that it is regrettable that the Chinese and US defense ministers cannot meet at the "incense meeting".
It can be seen from this that both the US Secretary of State and the US Secretary of Defense are eager for the opportunity to meet between the Chinese and US defense ministers. And, interestingly, Blinken has repeatedly expressed his desire to visit China, but China has not responded. Austin has repeatedly expressed his desire to meet with Mr. Lee, but China has not acceded to his request. These two are also "brothers and brothers" in terms of being rejected by China, and it is no wonder that Blinken recently began to call on the Chinese and US defense ministers to meet as soon as possible.
But there are good reasons why China did not agree to the two men's requests. The reason why China did not agree to Blinken's request to visit China must be known to everyone, because although the United States hoped that Blinken could visit China, the pace of sanctions against China did not stop at all, and it did not even give up playing the "Taiwan card" and meddling in internal affairs, so China did not agree to Blinken's request to visit China.
It is easier to understand that China did not agree to Austin's request to meet with Li Shangfu, and in 2018, the United States added Li Shangfu to the sanctions list, and the United States did not lift sanctions against him until Li Shangfu became China's defense minister. In this case, why did the sanctioned Chinese defense minister meet with the defense minister of the country that imposed the sanctions, not to mention that now the United States has a request for China, and the Chinese defense minister has no choice but to meet with the defense minister of this country that arbitrarily sanctions other countries.
More importantly, even now, the United States is still saying one thing and doing another, while actively calling for China and the United States to strengthen dialogue, while on the other hand it is hyping up some topics to smear China. Recently, the US RC-135 reconnaissance plane reconnoitred less than 50 kilometers from the mainland coastline of China, and even deliberately broke into the training area of the 17-ship formation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy to carry out reconnaissance interference. However, the United States used this incident to attack China, accusing Chinese fighters of intercepting American reconnaissance aircraft in an "unprofessional" way in "international airspace" in the South China Sea.
It can also be seen from this incident that the United States still has no sincerity to improve Sino-US relations, otherwise it would not have called on China and the United States to strengthen dialogue while smearing China. Of course, China has seen these tricks of the United States many times, so China will not step on this trap at all.