US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Saturday said that during talks with his Chinese counterpart, the two sides had agreed to reboot military-to-military links to “deconflict and deescalate.”
Hegseth met with Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) on the sidelines of a regional summit in Malaysia, a day after US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) held talks in South Korea.
“I just spoke to President Trump, and we agree — the relationship between the United States and China has never been better,” Hegseth said in a social media post, adding that he had spoken with Dong again since their face-to-face meeting.
Photo: Reuters
“The Admiral [Dong] and I agree that peace, stability, and good relations are the best path for our two great and strong countries,” he said, touting a path of “strength, mutual respect, and positive relations.”
The defense secretary said Dong and he “also agreed that we should set up military-to-military channels to deconflict and deescalate any problems that arise.”
Such channels have existed for years, but at times fallen out of use.
“We have more meetings on that coming soon,” Hegseth said without elaborating.
There was no immediate comment from Beijing.
Dong had told Hegseth the countries should “strengthen policy-level dialogue to enhance trust and dispel uncertainty,” and build a bilateral military relationship “characterized by equality, respect, peaceful coexistence and stable positive momentum,” according to a Chinese Ministry of Defense readout of the meeting.
Hegseth said earlier this year that China was “credibly preparing” to use military force to upend the balance of power in Asia in remarks that drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, despite overlapping claims with its neighbors — including allies of Washington.
Tensions have also flared occasionally on Taiwan.
A 2022 visit to Taiwan by then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi prompted China to launch military drills around Taiwan.
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