China said on Sunday it is open to a meeting with the US defence secretary on the guidelines of a regional security forum in Cambodia this week, in a sign of thawing relations after the countries’ top leaders met earlier this month.

China defence minister Wei Fenghe and US secretary of defence Austin Lloyd previously confirmed separately that they would attend the forum with Southeast Asian countries, the Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus.

On Sunday, China’s defence ministry issued a statement featuring a question about whether the two would meet, with spokesman Tan Kefei quoted as saying: “China holds a proactive and open attitude for exchange with the United States.”

He also said both sides were coordinating regarding an ”exchange” at the forum, set to take place on Wednesday. A meeting would represent the first high-level military exchange between the countries since China halted regular dialogue between military commanders in Augustin retaliation for US HouseSpeaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

China regards democratically ruled Taiwan as a renegade province. In Indonesia last week, on the sidelines of a G20 summit, China President Xi Jinping and US President JoeBiden held their first face-to-face meeting since the latter took office in early 2021. Ties between the world’s two largest economies have deteriorated in recent years amid issues such as trade, human rights and Taiwan.

Russia-Iran weaponised aircraft pact

London: Russia has reached an agreement with Iran to begin manufacturing hundreds of unmanned weaponised aircraft on Russian soil, The Washington Post reported, citing intelligence seen by US and other western security agencies.

The Post said Russian and Iranian officials finalised the deal during a meeting in Iran in early November.

Russia and Iran are moving rapidly to transfer designs and key components that could allow production to begin within months, three officials familiar with the matter said, according to the newspaper.

Reuters