Hong Kong. June 3. INTERFAX - Armed conflicts in Europe and Asia, if they overlap in time, will lead to catastrophic consequences, Singapore's Defense Minister Ng Eng Hyun said during the security summit in Singapore (Shangri-la Dialogue).
"Believe me: there is an urgent need to prevent a repeat in Asia of what happened in Ukraine. Many ministers said that if the wars go synchronously in Europe and Asia, it will be a disaster," Channel News Asia quoted him as saying.
At the same time, he expressed hope that the US and Chinese defense ministers would resume face-to-face meetings. He told reporters that he had spoken separately with representatives of the United States and China, and can assure that both sides want to resume contacts and do not completely abandon dialogue. However, the problem lies in the prerequisites for restarting the communication channel.
The Minister was asked whether the fact that an American ship is currently passing through the Taiwan Strait undermines such initiatives. Ng Eng Hyun noted that each state wants to follow the provisions of international law, but "its interpretations may differ slightly" for a particular country.
Channel News Asia recalls that earlier the American destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and the Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal passed through the Taiwan Strait. In the Seventh Fleet, the US Navy said that it was about standard actions at sea.
At a summit in Singapore on Saturday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he was concerned about China's unwillingness to work on improving the mechanism of military ties in order to avoid conflicts and crises. Austin also stated that the United States is ready to discuss arms control issues with China, but they cannot do this due to the lack of contacts between the militaries of the two countries.
As reported, the Chinese side rejected the American proposal to meet the defense ministers of the two countries "on the sidelines" of the Singapore forum. One of the reasons, according to observers, is that Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu is under US sanctions.
