US defence chief Lloyd Austin expected to meet Chinese counterpart Dong Jun in Singapore
It was not immediately clear if the elective, minimally invasive procedure would affect Austin’s travel plans.
He and Dong, China’s minister of national defence, are expected to meet during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore next week, an annual meeting of defence ministers and government officials from more than 50 countries.
The meeting also comes, however, as China has engaged in aggressive military drills around Taiwan, resulting in Taiwan scrambling aircraft and putting missile, naval and land units on alert on Thursday.
China launched the exercises after the island’s new president, Lai Ching-te, was inaugurated and delivered a speech asking Beijing to cease its intimidation against the island but face the reality of its existence. Beijing rejected his remarks as advocating for separatism and launched the military drills.
Beijing regards the island as a breakaway province to be brought under mainland control – by force, if necessary. Many countries, including the US, do not officially recognise Taiwan as an independent state but oppose the use of force to change the status quo.
In the wake of those exercises, the US has cautioned China not to use Taiwan’s political transition as a “pretext or excuse” for provocative or coercive measures, a defence official said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that had not been made public.
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The two governments began to engage each other more after US President Biden hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in November in California and stressed the need to keep communications open.
Dong is a former naval commander who was appointed in late December after his predecessor, Li Shangfu, was removed from office. Dong spoke with Austin by phone in April over issues including the war in Ukraine, freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, Taiwan and North Korea.
Austin last met a Chinese defence minister in November 2022, when he and Wei Fenghe, then China’s defence minister, were in Cambodia for a regional defence minister meeting.
No US defence secretary has visited China since James Mattis visited in 2018.