The US and Chinese militaries have finished two days of talks over security on the high seas, the first such discussions since China broke off contact earlier this year to protest the US sale of arms to Taiwan.
The resumption of military contacts after an eight-month freeze adds to what appears to be a warming of delicate US-China relations. They came just days after China invited US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to visit Beijing.
The US Pacific Command said in a statement at the conclusion of Friday’s session in Honolulu that the talks were aimed at increasing the safety of airmen and sailors and were important for a “sustained, reliable and meaningful military-to-military relationship.”
There was no immediate comment from China on the talks. Calls to the defense ministry press office in Beijing rang unanswered.
The US has long expressed concern about mishaps or near-mishaps when the two militaries operate near each other, such as in Asian territory.
“This week’s discussions were designed to increase safety of our sailors and airmen operating in proximity,” said US Marine Corps Major General Randolph Alles, who led the US delegation. “It was a professional and frank exchange.”
In 2001, a US spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet and made an emergency landing on China’s Hainan Island. The Chinese pilot died and the US crew of 24 was detained on Hainan for 11 days.
Last year, Chinese ships surrounded and harassed a US Navy mapping ship, the USNS Impeccable, in international waters off China. The Chinese ships at one point came within 8m of the US boat and strewed debris in its path. China later said the US ship was operating illegally inside China’s exclusive economic zone.
Rear Admiral Liao Shining (廖世寧) of the People’s Liberation Army Navy led the Chinese side at the discussions.
The Pacific Command said both sides would report their findings to the Defense Consultative Talks scheduled to be held in Washington from Dec. 9 to Dec. 10.
China suspended military relations with the US in January after objecting to a US$6.4 billion US arms package to Taiwan.
China signaled relations might be repaired when Major General Qian Lihua (錢利華) told visiting US Assistant Deputy Secretary of Defense Michael Schiffer that regular dialogue and exchanges on military safety at sea and other issues would be resumed.
High-level contact came earlier this week when Gates met Chinese Minister of National Defense General Liang Guanglie (梁光烈) at an Asian security meeting in Vietnam, where Gates accepted an invitation to visit Beijing. The Pentagon says Gates will likely go to the Chinese capital early next year.
Regional tensions and heated rhetoric have underscored the importance of regular contacts between the two militaries, much to the frustration of US officers who complain of the lack of access to their Chinese counterparts.
China has been especially strident about US involvement in territorial disputes in the South China Sea — which Beijing claims in its entirety — along with joint US-South Korean anti-submarine drills in the Yellow Sea, part of which lies within Chinese sovereign waters.
China also claims to control water far off its coastline that the US considers open water under international law, which led to the dispute over the USNS Impeccable. China considers the US position on maritime navigation and security to be meddling in Asian affairs.
The maritime talks are a continuation of contacts begun in the late 1990s but subject to frequent interruption, usually at Chinese behest. They were last held in September last year.
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