US seeks to build Asia-Pacific version of NATO: China

SINGAPORE: A Chinese defence official accused the United States on Saturday of seeking to build an Asia-Pacific version of NATO to maintain its hegemony in the region.

Lieutenant General Jing Jianfeng made the remarks on the sidelines of a major security forum in Singapore where US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier hailed a “new era of security” in the Asia-Pacific region, as Washington strengthens its alliances aimed at countering China’s influence.

From Japan to Australia, the United States has been deepening defence ties across the region, ramping up joint military exercises and regularly deploying warships and fighter jets in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea.

Speaking on the sidelines of the forum after Austin’s speech, Chinese Lieutenant General Jing Jianfeng accused the United States of seeking to build an Asia-Pacific version of NATO to maintain its hegemony in the region.

In the past three years, Austin said there had been a “new convergence around nearly all aspects of security” in the Asia-Pacific, where there was a shared understanding of “the power of partnership”.

“This new convergence is producing a stronger, more resilient and more capable network of partnerships and that is defining a new era of security in the Indo-Pacific,” Austin told the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

However, it was not “about imposing one country’s will” or “bullying or coercion”, Austin claimed, in an apparent shot at China, which has increased its sabre-rattling over self-ruled Taiwan and grown more confident in pressing its claims in the South China Sea.

“This new convergence is about coming together and not splitting apart,” Austin said. “It’s about the free choices of sovereign states.”

The Shangri-La Dialogue, a major security forum attended by defence officials from around the world, has become a barometer of US-China relations in recent years.

This year’s edition comes a week after China held military drills around Taiwan and warned of war over the US-backed island following the inauguration of President Lai Ching-te, who Beijing has described as a “dangerous separatist”.

Taiwan is one of the thorniest disputes in US-China relations.

Austin met with his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun on Friday for the first substantive face-to-face talks between the two countries’ defence chiefs in 18 months.

China scrapped military communications with the United States in 2022 in response to then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

Friday’s meeting offered hopes of further military dialogue that could help prevent flashpoint issues from spinning out of control.

Austin said the United States and China would resume military-to-military communications “in the coming months”, while Beijing hailed the “stabilising” security relations between the countries.

Underscoring the US commitment to the region, Austin said Saturday that the Asia-Pacific remained Washington’s “priority theatre of operations”, noting “the United States can be secure only if Asia is”.

“We are all in and we’re not going anywhere,” Austin said.

The Philippines, a treaty ally of the United States, is a key focus of Washington’s efforts to build an arc of alliances across the region.

Given its position in the South China Sea and proximity to Taiwan, Philippine support would be crucial for the United States in the event of any conflict.

The Philippines has increased to nine the number of military bases open to US troops under a 2014 agreement, including two in the country’s far north less than 450 kilometres (280 miles) from Taiwan.