US and Chinese militaries find reason to start talking again
livemint.comBEIJING—The U.S. and Chinese militaries are taking tentative steps to re-engage diplomatically after a two-year freeze in relations, seeking to dial back the risk of confrontation while tensions simmer over Beijing’s activities in the South China Sea and its support of Russia. Jump-starting talks between military leaders has been a priority of the Biden administration, but one that has previously faced stiff resistance in Beijing.
In the past few weeks, U.S. officials have netted long-sought meetings with senior Chinese military officials including Gen. Wu Yanan, whose command includes operations in the South China Sea.
Wu is also expected to participate in a military conference in Hawaii this month, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday. The Pentagon, meanwhile, has dispatched Michael Chase, deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, to attend the Xiangshan Forum, an international security conference in Beijing that began Thursday.
The conference offers a rare venue in which senior defense officials from China, the U.S., Russia and other powers convene as they push competing visions of global security. “The bottom line is that we’re going to keep open lines of communication because that’s important for preventing competition from veering into conflict," the U.S. defense official said.China’s Defense Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Military ties between the U.S. and China froze after a visit to Taiwan by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) in August 2022 led Beijing to cut off several communication channels with the U.S. A summit between President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in California in November opened the door for the revival of working-level
. Read more on livemint.com
