U.S. Defense Chief Says Asia-Pacific Region Remains Priority

The Asia-Pacific region remains the security priority for the Biden administration, the U.S. secretary of defense, Lloyd J. Austin III, said on Saturday, while maintaining that Beijing and Washington could keep their competition from spiraling into war.

For over two years, the Pentagon has been focused on supporting Ukraine, and later on containing risks in the Middle East as Israeli forces fight Hamas. But China’s growing military is the “pacing challenge,” Pentagon planners have said — meaning the key relationship that, if badly managed or neglected, could pull the United States into war.

Mr. Austin sought to assure a meeting of diplomats and defense officials in Singapore that Washington could handle those multiple global demands.

“Of course, we’re not operating in a vacuum,” Mr. Austin said in a speech to the annual meeting, called the Shangri-La Dialogue. “But despite these historic clashes in Europe and the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific has remained our priority theater of operations.”

Yet even in Singapore, Mr. Austin might not be able to avoid the demands of Ukraine’s war against Russian invasion. President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to fly to Singapore for the security meeting in an effort to muster stronger global support for his country, Reuters has reported.

Mr. Austin addressed the United States’ Asian partners a day after he and China’s defense minister held their first face-to-face talks in 18 months. In his speech, and in his meeting with the Chinese minister, Adm. Dong Jun, Mr. Austin discussed tentative steps to contain military tensions despite the U.S. and China’s opposing positions on chronic disputes including Taiwan and the South China Sea.