US-CHINA: Def Mins Hold First In-Person Meeting, Look To Bolster Military Comms

(MNI) London - US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin III and his Chinese counterpart Admiral Dong Jun met in Singapore on the sidelines of the IISS' Shangri-La Dialogue for their first in-person meeting. The talks come amid an effort to avoid military miscommunication in the Indo-Pacific region that could risk unintentional escalations in tensions or even conflict. 

• In a readout, the Pentagon says that Austin "emphasized the importance of maintaining open lines of military-to-military communication", voicing his support for the resumption of phone calls between theater commanders of each side, and "welcomed plans to convene a crisis-communications working group by the end of the year".
• Chinese Defence Ministry spox Senior Colonel Wu Qian said that the talks were "positive, practical, and constructive" and would have a "positive effect" on avoiding misunderstandings between the two sides. 
• The talks come a short time after China announced the imposition of export controls on a number of military-related products that the MOFCCOM said was necessary to "safeguard national security and interests". SCMP notes "A review by the South China Morning Post of customs data shows the US is among the largest importers of those products."
• The controls could be seen as Chinese retaliation to US efforts to restrict the export of advanced semiconductors and chip-making equipment to China, both by imposing export controls itself and encouraging allies such as Japan and the Netherlands to halt their own exports.