US and Chinese defense officials this week met to discuss unsafe and aggressive ship and aircraft incidents between the two militaries in the Pacific region for the first time in nearly two years, restarting a dialogue that Beijing abruptly ended after a dispute involving Taiwan.
The meeting on Wednesday and Thursday in Hawaii came as Washington and Beijing work to expand communications between the two world powers and ease escalating tensions.
Military-to-military contact had stalled in August 2022, when Beijing suspended all such communication after then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
Photo: AFP
The thaw in relations between the countries got a boost in November last year when US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco. About a month later, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Air Force General Charles Brown spoke with his Chinese counterpart in a video call — in the first senior military-to-military contact since the Pelosi visit.
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, and the bilateral Defense Policy Coordination Talks, which were held earlier this year.
The maritime meeting focused on unsafe and unprofessional incidents involving the US and Chinese militaries while the coordination talks focus on broader policy issues.
It included personnel from the US Indo-Pacific Command, US Pacific Fleet, US Pacific Air Forces and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). This is the first time since 2019 that the meeting was held in person.
According to officials, this week’s meeting included about 18 senior military and civilian officials from each side.
The US and China delegations each brought up specific incidents over the past several years that they believe raised operational safety concerns.
“Open, direct and clear communications with the PLA — and with all other military forces in the region — is of utmost importance to avoid accidents and miscommunication,” the head of the US delegation, US Army Colonel Ian Francis said in a statement.
Francis, who is the director for Northeast Asia policy at the US Indo-Pacific Command, said the US is encouraged that the PLA is honoring its commitments to the maritime agreement.
Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meetings are private, said that they have seen a reduction in the number of unsafe incidents by Chinese military aircraft and ships over the past several months.
The meeting was a way to make sure that the trend continues and that overall safety is increased in the region for troops who operate there, they said.
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