U.S.Chinese military talks resume after 2year break

For the first time in nearly two years, U.S. and Chinese defence officials met this week to discuss unsafe and aggressive ship and aircraft incidents between the two militaries in the Pacific region, restarting a dialogue that Beijing abruptly ended in a dispute involving Taiwan.

The meeting, which was on Wednesday and Thursday in Hawaii, came as Washington and Beijing work to expand communications between the two world powers and ease escalating tensions. Militarytomilitary contact had stalled in August 2022, when Beijing suspended all such communication after thenHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, the selfgoverning island China claims as its own.

Beijing suspended all communication in August 2022 after Pelosi’s Taiwan visit

The thaw in relations between the two countries got a kickstart last November when U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s President ◣i Jinping met on the sidelines of the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. About a month later, Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke with his Chinese counterpart in a video call — in the first senior militarytomilitary contact since the Pelosi visit.

Other toplevel talks have continued, including a call earlier this week between Mr. Biden and Mr. ◣i, and a visit to China by Treasury Secretary Janet

Yellen that

Thursday.

The resurgence of senior military leader discussions includes the relaunch of routine engagements, including the ChinaU.S. Military Maritime Consultative Agreement meeting, which was this week in Hawaii, and the bilateral Defence Policy Coordination Talks, which were held earlier this year.

The U.S. has consistently viewed military communications with China as critical to avoiding any missteps between their armed forces and to maintaining a peaceful IndoPacific.

China’s Defence Ministry, meanwhile, has criticised the U.S. for what it calls interference in both Taiwan and the South China Sea, charging that American arms sales to Taiwan are making the situation more dangerous. began on