The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
US- China military talks resume in Hawaii after a nearly 2- yr break
FOR THE first time in nearly two years, U. S. and Chinese defense 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 Wednesday and Thursday in Hawaii, came as Washington and Beijing work to expand communications between the two powers and ease escalating tensions.
Military- to- military contact had stalled in August 2022, when Beijing suspended all such communication after then- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, the self- governing island China claims as its own.
The thaw in relations between the two countries got a kick- start last November when U. S. President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco.
About a month later, General CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke with his Chinese counterpart in a video call — in the first senior militaryto- military contact since the Pelosi visit.
Other top- level talks have continued, including a call earlier this week between Biden and Xi, and a visit to China by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that began on Thursday.
The resurgence of senior military leader discussions includes the relaunch of routine engagements, including the China- US Military Maritime Consultative Agreement meeting, which was this week in Hawaii.
The maritime meeting is focused on unsafe and unprofessional incidents involving the U. S. and Chinese militaries while the coordination talks focus on broader policy issues.