WASHINGTON: China’s defense minister declined a meeting with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a meeting of defense leaders in Laos, a move the Pentagon chief said on Wednesday was unfortunate.

Multilateral gatherings of national security officials in Asia have been used in the past for meetings between US and Chinese defense leaders, but China declined a meeting request by Austin during this week’s Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Plus defense ministers meeting.

“It’s unfortunate. It affects the region because the region really wants to see us, you know, two significant players in the region, two significant powers, talk to each other,” Austin told reporters.

“I don’t think that it has any sort of implications for the future. I just think that it’s something that they chose to do at this point in time and only they can explain why they chose to not take advantage of a good opportunity,” Austin added.

Austin met China’s defense minister, Dong Jun, on the sidelines of a Singapore conference earlier this year, reiterating their differences on Taiwan and other issues but emphasizing the need to keep military-to-military communications open.

Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed on Saturday to work with the incoming US administration of Donald Trump as he held his final talks with outgoing President Joe Biden on conflicts from cyber crime to trade, Taiwan, the South China Sea and Russia.