On Thursday morning, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke with his Chinese counterpart. Officials confirmed that the United States military and China People’s Liberation Army resumed communications.
Gen. Brown speaks with Chinese counterpart for first time since assuming top Pentagon job https://t.co/YD68iZJIod
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) December 21, 2023
China suspended all contact with the US administration after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022. After that, the talk on video call between Gen. Brown and Gen. Liu Zhenli was the first senior military communication between the U.S. and China. Similar conversations between top U.S. and Chinese diplomats also occurred some days ago. This resumption of contact was started by the meeting between President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping last month.
At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, both leaders met. The meeting was partly aimed at restoring the military talks amid escalating concerns about regular unsafe or unprofessional happenings between the two nations’ ships and aircraft in the Pacific region. The U.S. has always viewed military communications with China as critical. It aimed to avoid missteps between their armed forces and sustain a peaceful Indo-Pacific region.
Gen. CQ Brown’s video conference is the first Cabinet-level communication with China since Secretary of State Antony Blinken communicated on Dec. 6 with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Some details about Brown’s call were also released. A senior U.S. defense official and a senior military official expressed it was a vital first step. These are the kinds of conversations that the U.S. ought to have with China, they said, to avoid misconceptions or miscalculations as the two militaries interact.
They expressed that the U.S. is talking with China at various levels. A series of calls and meetings are anticipated in the coming weeks and months. They include agendas for the bilateral Defense Policy Coordination Talks early next year. It contains the likely resumption of the China-U.S. Military Maritime Consultative Agreement talks.
In August 2022, Pelosi’s visit sparked a surge in military actions by China. Beijing sent warships and aircraft across the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It claimed that the de facto border did not exist. China also shot missiles over Taiwan itself and challenged established standards by firing missiles into Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
The Pentagon also noted that There has been an increase in Chinese aircraft and warship incidents. In October, The Defense Department released video footage of some of the more than 180 intercepts of U.S. warplanes by Chinese aircraft. These incidents have occurred in the past two years. It is more than the total number over the earlier decade. In one of the more recent incidents, a Chinese pilot flew within 10 feet (3 meters) of a U.S. Air Force B-52. The plane performed routine procedures over the South China Sea in international airspace.
Experts and analysts praised the Brown-Liu call as an essential initial move. The Pentagon has continued to voice unease about China’s aggressive military interactions in the Indo-Pacific. Due to the Chinese threat, the US has worked to build alliances with other nations in the region.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also met with defense chiefs from Australia and the United Kingdom to develop a new deal. It aimed to increase technology cooperation and information sharing as part of a broader effort to counter China’s rapidly growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.
The new technology agreement is the next step in broadening the military partnership with Australia. It includes strategies to help equip Sydney with a fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines. The defense leaders also indicated actions by China to limit freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific as a reason to strengthen their cooperation.
Earlier this week, Adm. John Aquilino, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, voiced worries about China and Russia’s expanded joint military activities in the region. Talking in Tokyo, he said it is far above a “marriage of convenience” between Beijing and Moscow, and he asked China to halt escalating maritime conflicts with its neighbors.
Meanwhile, China’s defense ministry has blamed the U.S. for meddling in Taiwan and the South China Sea. They contended that American arms sales to Taiwan made the crisis more dangerous.