US, China restart military level dialogue after year-long hiatus

For the first time in more than a year, the top US military officer met virtually with his Chinese counterpart on Thursday, raising the possibility of a wider mending of ties between the two nations, according to the Pentagon.

General Liu Zhenli of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and US Air Force General Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed “a number of global and regional security issues,” according to Brown’s office. The meeting comes after US President Joe Biden and Chinese Leader Xi Jinping met in person last month and agreed to restart military communications that had been suspended.

According to Pentagon sources, dialogue between the two armed forces is essential to averting a miscalculation from turning into a war.

Brown also emphasised how crucial it is for the Chinese military to have meaningful conversations in order to lessen the possibility of miscommunications. Liu, his equivalent, is the head of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the military organisation in charge of organising and carrying out China’s military actions in combat.

According to a statement released by the Chinese defence ministry on Thursday, Liu stated at the meeting that the U.S. needs to have a “correct understanding of China” in order for Washington and Beijing to have a strong, stable, and long-lasting military-to-military partnership.

Although the restart of military communications can result in the restoration of ties, US officials have cautioned that it may take some time for the two nations to establish a really effective dialogue. Furthermore, China wants uncertainty in defence relations in order to constrain what Beijing sees as US military provocations in the Indo-Pacific region.

Since the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was established and the Republic of China’s government withdrew to Taiwan in 1949, the two countries’ relationship has been largely complex and occasionally tense. Since then, there have been times of conflict and collaboration between the two nations over matters like to trade, climate change, and Taiwan.

When former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi travelled to Taiwan, which China considers to be part of its own territory, military contacts between the two nations were cut off. Beijing and Washington are at odds over a variety of issues, including South China Sea territorial claims and the survival of Taiwan’s democratic government.

(With agency inputs)