US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Charles Brown Jr spoke with his Chinese counterpart Liu Zhenli (劉振立) for the first time in a call that the administration of US President Joe Biden billed as a further sign that ties between the two countries’ militaries might be getting back to normal.
The US Department of Defense said that the video call between Brown and Liu, held on Thursday morning Washington time, included discussion of working together to avoid miscalculations and maintaining open lines of communication.
A senior US military official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, credited a meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in California last month for opening the way to restore contacts that had been severed since then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August last year.
Photo: Reuters
The official said future steps include plans to hold talks next month on defense policy and a round of maritime consultations in the spring.
This would be the first time the two sides have held the defense policy coordination talks, intended to be an annual dialog, since Beijing canceled them following Pelosi’s trip. It would also be the first in-person edition since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
A summary of the call from the Chinese Ministry of Defense stressed that Washington needs to understand and respect Beijing’s interests and concerns — including its territorial claims in the South China Sea.
The ministry also said the status of Taiwan is an internal matter and that US interference will not be tolerated.
The meeting is a sign both sides want to sustain more stable engagement, according to Eurasia Group.
However, it is “unlikely that military-to-military engagement will lead the People’s Liberation Army to significantly scale back operations such as intentional intercepts of US aircraft in the South China Sea,” analysts including Anna Ashton wrote in a note.
The US and China had previously accused each other of provocative or unprofessional actions during repeated encounters by military craft in and around the South China Sea.
However, on Monday, US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral John Aquilino said China has stopped “dangerous” military actions in the weeks since the Biden-Xi meeting.
Brown on Dec. 2 said that he was “standing by” for an opportunity to speak with Liu, touting the importance of maintaining communications with adversaries “to prevent miscalculation.”
Last time a US Joint Chiefs chairman spoke with his Chinese counterpart was in July last year, US officials said.
They said conversations with Beijing are ongoing about future contacts among senior US and Chinese officials, but did not provide time lines for any future conversations involving US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin or others.
The Chinese government has not yet named a new minister of national defense following the October ouster of former minister of national defense Li Shangfu (李尚福), while the US officials suggested this was expected to occur in March.
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