US, China military leaders hold first talks in more than a year

Asia-Pacific, News, US December 24, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

Top military leaders from the United States and the People’s Republic of China held a virtual meeting on December 21, 2023, marking the first interaction between the two militaries in more than a year.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Air Force General Charles Q Brown held a virtual meeting with Liu Zhenli, the chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission and a top general of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The two military generals discussed several “global and regional security issues” during their online discussion, Brown’s office said in a statement.

Brown “discussed the importance of working together to responsibly manage competition, avoid miscalculations and maintain open and direct lines of communication,” according to a statement released by the Pentagon.

A U.S. military spokesperson Captain Jereal Dorsey said that “General Brown reiterated the importance of the People’s Liberation Army engaging in substantive dialogue to reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings.”

Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder described the call between Brown and Liu as a “positive development”, saying that the two sides were working to implement what had been announced by Xi and Biden. “When you have two large militaries, it’s imperative that we keep lines of communication open in order to prevent miscalculation,” Ryder said.

*^{U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Air Force General Charles Q Brown. (Image Credit: Reuters)}*

The virtual meeting between the two militaries came after General Brown sent an introductory letter to his Chinese counterpart after taking office as the U.S. military chief in September 2023. In his letter, Brown told Liu that he was looking forward to open channels of communication between the two countries.

Military communication between China and the U.S. came to a complete halt after the former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the self-ruled island of Taiwan in August 2022, angering Beijing.

Liu said the key for the U.S. and China to develop a healthy, stable, and sustainable military-to-military relationship was for the U.S. to have a “correct understanding of China,” according to a Chinese defense ministry statement that was released after the meeting.

General Liu, the 59-year-old military general, who has emerged as the top contender to take the office of China’s next defense minister after the dismissal of General Li Shangfu, asked for the U.S. to respect China’s territorial sovereignty, and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea.

*^{People’s Liberation Army of China Chief of the Joint Staff Department Gen. Liu Zhenli. (Image Credit: Twitter/@RFA_Chinese)}*

“Be prudent in words and actions, and take concrete actions to safeguard regional peace and stability and the overall situation of China-U.S. relations,” he said.

Liu was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018 for an arms deal he secured with Russia in an earlier role. China had demanded that the sanctions, which included a visa ban and prohibitions on conducting U.S. financial transactions, be lifted.