The speech came on the last day of the conference where military officials from around the world held more than a hundred formal closed-door meetings.
In the main conference room, Li laid out Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature Global Security Initiative, a foreign policy strategy based on economic development.
Like Austin a day earlier, the Chinese defence minister tackled some of the big points of friction between the two countries: Taiwan and the South China Sea.
However, there was little overlap in the two visions presented.
Li said “Taiwan is China’s Taiwan” and “a matter for the Chinese to decide”, while Austin said the United States would oppose unilateral changes to the status quo from either side.
Without naming the US, Li also accused “some country” of exceptionalism and double standards.
“Its so-called rules-based international order never tells you what the rules are, and who made these rules,” he said.
“Some countries even use treaties that it is not party to, to restrict others.”
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