NNA - The US and Chinese defence ministers will hold their first face-to-face talks in Singapore Friday, Chinese state media said, as the superpowers lock horns over security disputes ranging from Taiwan to contested waters.

The relationship between the two countries has deteriorated due to myriad issues in recent years. As well as Taiwan and the South China Sea, they have clashed over cybersecurity and human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit, which is attended by defence ministers and senior officials from around the world.

Austin is the latest senior US official to visit Asia as Washington seeks to shift its foreign policy focus back to the region from the Ukraine war.

The talks will be "the first meeting between Chinese and US defence ministers since Austin took office", state broadcaster CCTV reported. They previously held talks on the phone in April.

A major issue on the agenda could be Taiwan, a self-ruled, democratic island that lives under the constant threat of invasion by China.

Beijing views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.

Tensions have been stoked by increasing Chinese aircraft incursions into the island's air defence identification zone (ADIZ).

President Joe Biden, during a visit to Japan last month, appeared to break decades of US policy when, in response to a question, he said Washington would defend Taiwan militarily if it is attacked by China.

The White House has since insisted its policy of "strategic ambiguity" over whether or not it would intervene has not changed.--AFP

===========================R.H.