Zhang Zhenzhong, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission, called U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue on June 10 a "confrontation." 

Austin accused China of unprofessional and frequent interceptions of other countries' aircraft. "This does not accord with fact, we have to point out that the place for the air space where these events happened were in the air space near China's Xisha and Nansha islands, not the air space of American allies, and China has to take necessary countermeasures to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests and the countermeasures that we have taken are professional, safe and conducted in a professional and safe way," said Zhang.