US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the 2024 Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore. (Photo: Reuters)

Austin will meet in person with his Chinese counterpart for the first time since November 2022 as their countries seek to facilitate communication.

The officials held a virtual meeting in April this year and discussed issues of international concerns. During the video teleconference, Austin and Dong, who took office in December, reaffirmed an agreement between President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, reached at a mid-November summit near San Francisco, to reopen direct military-to-military talks at several levels.