US Department of Defense headquarters in Arlington. File photoWASHINGTON, Jun 11 The US is not looking for confrontation or a cold war in the Asia-Pacific region and does not plan to create an Asian counterpart to NATO, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said. «We are not looking for confrontation or conflict. We are not we want a new cold war, an Asian NATO or a region fragmented into hostile blocs,» he said at the international Shangri-La Dialogue conference in Singapore. 
The Pentagon spoke about the creation of prototypes of lasers to intercept missilesAustin assured that the United States would not hesitate to defend its interests in the region, which is considered a «center of strategic gravity» in the 21st century. «But we're also working to advance our vision for the region — more security, not contradictions,» he said. The US is working closely with «competitors and friends» to prevent potential conflict, he said. «This includes fully open lines of communication with China's defense leaders to ensure that we don't make any misjudgments,» said the Pentagon chief, who had previously met with a Chinese counterpart in Singapore.
