Global defense officials hold talks in Singapore against the backdrop of tensions between China and the United States.

SINGAPORE (AP) — Government leaders, defense officials and diplomats from around the world are gathering this weekend in Singapore for Asia's first security forum, at a time of growing tension and competition for leadership. he influence between the United States and China in the Indo-Pacific region. .

In recent years, Beijing has rapidly developed its navy and is increasingly asserting itself in the field. asserting its claims to almost the entire South China Seawhich has led to an increasing number of direct conflicts with other countries in the region, notably The Philippines And Vietnam.

The United States, for its part, has intensified its military exercises in the region with its allies to highlight its “free and open Indo-Pacific” concept, intended to emphasize freedom of navigation in disputed waters, including the Taiwan Strait. China also claims the democratic, self-governing island of Taiwan and has said it would not rule out using force to seize it.

Since territorial hostilities with China escalated last year in the South China Sea, the administration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has taken steps forge new security alliances with a number of Asian and Western countries and has enabled a US military presence in more Philippine bases as part of a 2014 defense pact.

Marcos opens this year's Shangri-La Dialogue, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, with a keynote address Friday.

This week, Marcos already expressed concerns about a new law issued by China allowing its coast guard to seize foreign vessels “that illegally enter Chinese territorial waters” and detain foreign crews for up to 60 days. The same law also makes a new reference to 2021 legislation which states that the Chinese coast guard can fire on foreign vessels if necessary.

While Philippine ships are now regularly confronted by the Chinese, there are fears that a low-level confrontation could lead to escalation, said Eugene Tan, professor of international law at Singapore Management University.

“I don't think these countries are actually trying to go to war with each other, but these skirmishes is that sometimes, if there is a miscalculation, things can quickly escalate into a use of force,” he said.

“And I think the last thing countries in the region would want, especially if they are focused on post-pandemic recovery, is to have regional conflict on their doorstep. »

This year's conference is just around the corner a week after China held massive military exercises around Taiwanorganizing a mock blockade of the island after inaugurating a new government that refuses to accept Beijing's insistence that the island is part of China.

China views Taiwan as a renegade province that must come under its control, by force if necessary.

The United States, like most countries, does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is required by its own laws to provide the island with the means to defend itself. The United States has called China's military exercises “reckless.”

Bilateral contacts between the US and Chinese militaries were severed in 2022 after Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the US House of Representatives, visited Taiwan, which infuriated Beijing.

That has slowly recovered in recent months, and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun, who are both participating in the Shangri-La Dialogue, were scheduled to meet Friday before the forum even began.

It will be the first face-to-face meeting the two men have had since direct talks collapsed, although they have previously spoken by telephone.

The two men are expected to discuss establishing a direct channel of communication between military commanders responsible for the area around Taiwan and the rest of the region, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Marty Meiners said.

“We are committed to following the President’s directives to increase military-to-military communication,” he said.

“The department will continue to engage in active discussions with its PRC (People’s Republic of China) counterparts on future engagements between defense officials and the military at multiple levels.”

Tan said he did not expect big breakthroughs in the negotiations, but it was important for the two to be in direct contact to “reduce the temperature” between the two countries.

“We would probably expect too much from the Shangri-La Dialogue to hope for concrete progress,” he said. “The Shangri-La Dialogue really offers the opportunity to take very incremental steps in building trust. »

Austin is scheduled to address the forum Saturday morning, while Dong will do so on Sunday, the final day.

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AP journalists Syawalludin Zain in Singapore and Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this story.

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