Potential defense ministers’ meeting to avoid misjudgment

A potential meeting between defense ministers of China and the US could be a key and constructive measure to avoid misjudgment, said a Chinese commentator on Thursday, but whether it could yield positive outcomes remains in the clouds due to the unpredictability and ambiguity of US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy.

During their meeting in Singapore, Chinese Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe received another invitation from James Mattis, the US Secretary of Defense, to visit the US, Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Wu Qian said at a monthly routine press conference on Thursday.

China-US military ties are an integrated part of bilateral ties, a healthy and steadfast development of which is in line with the common interests of both sides, Wu said, adding that the Chinese side always believes that win-win cooperation is the only correct option for sustained development of bilateral relations.

Wu stressed that China’s stance over matters like the Taiwan question and South China Sea issue is consistent and unequivocal, and the Chinese military has a firm resolve to safeguard the country’s territorial sovereignty and development interests.

“Mutual trust between the militaries has been significantly impaired recently as a result of increasingly provocative US military activities including warships’ passing through the Taiwan Straits,” Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Topics concerning Taiwan question and Air Defense Identification Zones in East China Sea would likely be raised by the two top military officials during their meeting, according to Li.