The Australian and Chinese defense ministers met today for the first time in three years and their contacts were described as an “important first step” after a long period of tension.
The talks between Australian Defense Minister Richard Marls and Chinese counterpart Wei Feng, which lasted more than an hour, took place on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore.
“It was an opportunity to have a very frank and comprehensive discussion in which I raised a number of issues of concern to Australia,” the Australian Secretary of Defense told reporters in Singapore.
“It’s really important right now to have the lines of dialogue open,” Marls said. “Australia-China relations are complex. And it is precisely because of this complexity that it is really important to have a dialogue right now,” he added.
The Chinese side did not immediately comment on the meeting.
Relations between Beijing and Canberra are very tense, especially since Canberra called for an independent investigation into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic two years ago.
Source: Capital
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