US Defense Secretary warns of devastating consequences in potential Taiwan war with China.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has warned that a war over Taiwan would be "devastating" and affect the global economy "in ways we cannot imagine," as he underlined US support for the island democracy at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit. China's ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan as part of its territory, despite never having controlled it, and its increasingly frequent military exercises near to and around the island have raised concerns about how far it will go to realize that claim. Austin criticized China for its "alarming number of risky intercepts of US and allied aircraft" in international airspace and called on Beijing to engage more seriously on better mechanisms for crisis management.