A meeting between Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his Chinese counterpart has been canceled, a US defense official said Monday, amid rising tensions between the two nations. The Pentagon had been working on a plan for Mattis to travel to Beijing later this month to meet General Wei Fenghe for security talks, but China ultimately declined to make him available, the official told AFP.
In light of that, the decision to scrap the visit came primarily from the US side, the official added. It would have been Mattis's second trip to China as Pentagon chief, following a June visit when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as Wei and a number of other officials. The US embassy in Beijing declined to comment. The trip cancelation comes as friction between the US and China continues to rise, particularly over trade. President Donald Trump's trade war has infuriated Beijing, as did his authorization of a $1.3 billion arms sale to Taiwan, which China considers a rebel province.
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