The United States and China have held high-level commander talks for the first time, Chinese authorities said. The talks aim to stabilize military ties and avoid misunderstandings, especially in regional hotspots. Adm Sam Paparo, the head of the US Indo-Pacific command, held a video call with his counterpart, Wu Yanan, of the southern theatre command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
The US Indo-Pacific command’s areas of responsibility include the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, two hotspots for regional tension. Both sides had an “in-depth exchange of views on issues of common concern”, the Chinese defence ministry said. Paparo urged the PLA “to reconsider its use of dangerous, coercive, and potentially escalatory tactics in the South Sea and beyond”, the Indo-Pacific command said.
He also stressed the importance of continued talks to clarify intent and reduce the risk of misperception or miscalculation.
Commander talks aim to stabilize ties
The call followed a meeting in Beijing last month between the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and the Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s leading military adviser, at which the talks were agreed.
US and Chinese troops were also taking part in large-scale military exercises led by the Brazilian armed forces this week in the Brazilian city of Formosa. American and Chinese troops had not trained side by side since 2016. Most two-way military engagements between the US and China were suspended for almost two years after Nancy Pelosi, then speaker of the US House of Representatives, visited Taiwan in August 2022.
“I certainly worry about an unintended conflict between our military forces, an accident, an accidental collision,” Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China, told the magazine Foreign Policy. Later this week, the US plans to send a senior Pentagon official to a major security forum in China. The talks and military exercises show efforts to re-establish regular military-to-military communication and prevent disputes from escalating, despite ongoing tensions over issues like trade, Taiwan, and the South China Sea.
- TheGuardian.”US and China hold high-level military talks in effort to stabilise ties”.
- Yahoo.”US military warns Beijing against ‘dangerous’ South China Sea moves in talks”.
- SCMP.”US theatre commander urges China rethink ‘tactics in South China Sea and beyond’”.