US-China high-level military dialogues gather pace; new crisis meeting on horizon
The resumption of high-level military dialogues between the United States and China has gathered pace, with a crisis-communications meeting possibly taking place before the end of this year, the Pentagon has confirmed.
US President Joe Biden first disclosed the restoration of talks - which had been suspended by Beijing almost two years ago to retaliate for a visit by then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan - during a news conference at the end of the Nato summit on Thursday.
Biden also said that following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California in November, the two sides had agreed to put the "spy balloon" incident from early 2023 that had soured relations behind them and re-establish direct communication channels.
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"We set up a new mechanism. There's a direct line between Xi and me, and our military has direct access to one another, and they contact one another when we have problems," Biden said at the briefing at the White House.
In the news conference, Biden also touted his engagement with Xi.
"Like I said, I'm dealing with Xi right now, in direct contact with him," Biden said, when asked if he would be able to deal with leaders like Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Defence Department spokesman Pete Nguyen subsequently confirmed to Task & Purpose, a US-based online publication, that senior American and Chinese military leaders had held talks, both in January and April.
The resumed inter-military communications so far include the Defence Policy Coordination Talks in January on defence relations and a Military Maritime Consultative Agreement meeting in April on how the two countries can work together on air and maritime safety, Nguyen said.
"The department will continue to engage in active discussions with PRC [People's Republic of China] counterparts about future engagements between defence and military officials at multiple levels - including telephone conversations between theatre commanders in the coming months, as well as a convening of a crisis-communications working group by the end of the year," Nguyen said.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun also held a teleconference call in April and a face-to-face meeting in May on the sidelines of the Shangri-La forum in Singapore. In addition, Charles Brown, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, had a telephone conversation with his Chinese counterpart Liu Zhenli in December.
But direct communications between military theatre commanders, sought by the US, have not yet been restored.
Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun (centre) leaving a meeting with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore on May 31, 2024. Photo: AFP alt=Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun (centre) leaving a meeting with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore on May 31, 2024. Photo: AFP>
Beijing suspended communications between the two militaries in August 2022, in response to Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, which it regarded as a provocation to Chinese territorial integrity.
Relations were further strained in January and February 2023, when a Chinese balloon transited across North America, and was eventually shot down by the US Air Force. The US charged that the balloon was on a spying mission, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled a trip to China.
Beijing claimed the balloon was just an errant civilian airship used mainly for meteorological research.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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