Beijing will "not hesitate to start a war at any cost" if Taiwan declares independence, China's defense minister reportedly told his US counterpart at a meeting on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore.

After their first round of talks, the United States issued a statement in which Austin urged China to stop from further destabilizing Taiwan.

Taiwan's foreign ministry criticized China's "absurd" sovereignty claims and thanked the United States for its backing. "Taiwan has never been subject to the Chinese government's jurisdiction, and the Taiwanese people will not yield to the Chinese government's threats of force," said ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou.

The US Department of Defense stated that Austin "reiterated the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, opposed unilateral changes to the status quo, and urged [China] to refrain from further destabilizing actions towards Taiwan."

Increasing Chinese aircraft incursions into Taiwan's air defense identification zone have contributed to heightened tensions over the island (ADIZ).

During a May visit to Japan, Joe Biden stated that the United States would protect Taiwan militarily if China invaded it. Since then, the White House has maintained that its stance of "strategic ambiguity" regarding the intervention has not changed.

Wei Fenghe reportedly told Austin that Beijing would "crush to smithereens any Taiwan independence plot and staunchly uphold the motherland's unification."

As tensions between China and Taiwan escalated, Japan's prime minister, Fumio Kishida, stated in a keynote address at the conference that his government would explore developing a preemptive strike capability because "today's Ukraine could be tomorrow's, East Asia."

The world must be "prepared for the emergence of an entity that violates the peace and security of other nations through force or intimidation while disregarding the rules," he warned. In his speech, he did not mention China by name, but he frequently advocated for maintaining a "rules-based international order."

Kishida stated that he would present a "free and open Indo-Pacific plan for peace" by next spring, in which Japan would provide development aid, patrol boats, maritime law enforcement capabilities, and other assistance to countries in south-east Asia and the Pacific to improve their security.

During the next three years, he added that Japan would provide similar help to at least 20 nations, train at least 800 marine security officers, and provide roughly $2 billion in assistance.

Kishida informed his audience that Japan's defense augmentation would be transparent and constitutionally permissible.

He stated that increasing tensions in the East and South China seas, as well as around Taiwan, are worsening the security situation in the Indo-Pacific region.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its threat to deploy nuclear weapons have exacerbated the situation. Still, the trend must be stopped, Kishida said, citing his position as the leader of the only nation to have suffered nuclear assaults.

Kishida stated, "I must admit that the path to a world without nuclear weapons has become even more difficult."

He characterized North Korea's frequent launches of ballistic missiles, particularly intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the development of nuclear weapons as a grave threat to regional peace and security. "The non-transparent buildup of military capacity, including nuclear arsenals, around Japan has become a serious threat to regional security," he warned.

Kishida stated that the danger might harm non-proliferation efforts by creating a reluctance among nuclear weapon possessors to abandon them and a desire among others to develop them.

China and the United States have also been at odds over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with Washington accusing Beijing of giving covert backing to Moscow.

China has urged dialogue to resolve the crisis but has refrained from criticizing Russia's activities and has criticized US weaponry donations to Ukraine on multiple occasions. China's sweeping claims in the South China Sea have further aggravated relations with the United States.

Austin will offer a speech at the forum on Saturday, followed by Wei on Sunday. The summit takes happen from 10 to 12 June for the first time since 2019, after being postponed twice because of the Covid-19 pandemic.