'The risk is bigger than the reward

"Doing our part to fulfil the shared responsibility all of us have to preserve peace and security. "And making it crystal clear that when it comes to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force: be it in Taiwan, the South China Sea, the East China Sea or elsewhere, the risk of conflict will always far outweigh any potential reward." Tensions between China and the US have dominated in the lead up to this year's dialogue, with Mr Austin saying it was "unfortunate" Mr Li had snubbed his invitation for a meeting on the sidelines. 'Spiral out of…