'Unfortunate' that Chinese counterpart declined talks: US defence chief

[Collection]US sefense secretary, Lloyd Austin, has criticized Beijing’s decision not to hold talks with him, believing it to be “unfortunate”. China declined to officially confirm the snub. Austin expressed dismay over China's recent “provocative intercepts of our aircraft and also our allies' aircraft,” which he found concerning, adding that these actions could unintentionally cause an incident that would quickly “spiral out of control”.