Beijing declined Washington’s invitation to hold a meeting this week in Singapore between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu, the Pentagon said on Monday, calling the move “disturbing”.

China has “informed the US that it declines our invitation that we issued in early May for Defense Secretary Austin to meet with Defense Minister Li Sangfu this week in Singapore,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said in a press release.

“The disturbing reluctance of the People’s Republic of China to hold significant military-to-military talks will not diminish our commitment to pursue the opening of channels of communication” with the Chinese military, the spokesman added.

Lloyd Austin will participate in Singapore this week in the so-called Sagri-La dialogue on defense and security in the Asia-Pacific region. At the previous such conference, in June 2022, he had met with Li Sangfu’s predecessor, Wei Fangha.

China’s current defense minister was sanctioned by the US government in 2018 because he decided to buy Russian weapons, but according to the Pentagon, this does not prevent the US defense minister from having official contacts with him.

In late 2022, tensions between Beijing and Washington escalated, both over Taiwan and the alleged Chinese spy balloon that shot down a US fighter jet in US airspace.

The US administration has since stepped up moves to strengthen its alliances and partnerships in Asia to counter what it sees as Beijing’s increasingly assertive behavior in the region, although the two sides have at times played the appeasement card.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met in May with Wang Yi, a top Chinese diplomatic official. And US President Joe Biden recently predicted that tensions between Washington and Beijing would “very soon” ease.