Devendra Kumar
In a significant move aimed at thawing relations between the United States and China, General CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held a video call with his Chinese counterpart, General Liu Zhenli, on Thursday. This marked the first senior military communication between the two nations since August 2022, when Beijing suspended all contacts after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. The call came amid ongoing efforts by the Biden administration to restore diplomatic ties with Beijing, which has been strained by frequent incidents of unsafe or unprofessional interaction between their military forces in the Pacific region.
According to Navy Captain Jereal Dorsey, General Brown’s spokesman, the two generals discussed the importance of working together to responsibly manage competition, avoid miscalculations, and maintain open and direct lines of communication. This suggests that both sides are looking to engage in constructive dialogue to reduce tensions and avoid misunderstandings. The US has consistently emphasized the importance of military communications with China as a crucial step towards maintaining a peaceful Indo-Pacific region.
The call is also seen as an important first step in a series of planned talks and meetings between the two nations’ military leaders. These discussions will focus on issues such as the bilateral defense policy-coordination talks, which are expected to resume early next year, and the revival of the China-US Military Maritime Consultative Agreement talks in the spring. Additionally, General Brown reaffirmed the importance of opening lines of communication with top Pacific commanders from both countries.
The conversation between General Brown and General Liu follows a similar exchange between top US and Chinese diplomats, which was triggered by President Joe Biden’s meeting with President Xi Jinping last month. The two leaders aimed to restore military talks amid escalating concerns about the frequency and severity of incidents between their military forces in the Pacific.
Despite the renewed diplomatic efforts, the US Defense Department has continued to express concerns about China’s aggressive military interactions in the Indo-Pacific region. The Pentagon has been working to build alliances with other nations in the region to counter China’s growing influence, and has forged a new agreement to increase technology cooperation and information sharing with Australia and the UK.
The recent incidents of aggressive Chinese military behavior have included frequent intercepts of US warplanes by Chinese aircraft, as well as the dispatch of warships and aircraft across the median line in the Taiwan Strait. The US has also been critical of China’s efforts to restrict freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region. In response, Admiral John Aquilino, head of US Indo-Pacific Command, has urged China to stop escalating maritime confrontations with its neighbors.