Reuters
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday tried to refocus attention on China's threat in the Pacific, seeking to alleviate concerns that conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza have distracted from America's security commitments in Asia. Austin, who was speaking at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, met his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, on Friday in a bid to cool friction over issues from Taiwan to China's military activity in the South China Sea. There has been increasing concern that Washington's focus on helping Ukraine counter Russia's invasion and support for Israel's war in Gaza, while trying to ensure that the conflict does not spread, has taken away attention from the Indo-Pacific.