US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have reached an agreement to return negotiations between the countries to the military level.
This was announced by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during a visit to Indonesia. He welcomed the progress made.
We are talking about resuming negotiations between the military at the highest level, including between commanders.
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“We are encouraged by recent news from the White House about the planned resumption of military-to-military contacts,” Austin emphasized.
The head of the Pentagon added that a meaningful dialogue between the top leadership of states cannot be replaced by anything. Therefore, the US will continue to have practical discussions with the Chinese side, “from the senior management level to the operational level.”
The Pentagon was concerned about the lack of communication with China at the military level. Beijing has regularly rejected or ignored US requests to do so.
Concern has increased amid “increasingly provocative and risky behavior by the Chinese military.” This, in particular, was manifested in the growth of aggressive interceptions of American aircraft.
Between 2021 and 2023, the United States recorded more than 180 “forced and risky interceptions of American aircraft” in the region by China. This is more than in the last decade.
Austin would not predict whether China's promise to resume military-to-military dialogue is a sign that such provocations will stop. It is important that the two countries maintain open lines of communication, he said.
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– I will not make any predictions about China's future behavior. However, we will continue to need a mechanism to manage crises and prevent things from getting out of control from time to time. This is all the more important if activity in the region has increased, if the number of unnecessary things like close intercepts has increased. This is another reason why senior leaders need to be able to communicate with each other, Austin explained.
Negotiations between Biden and Xi
On November 15, a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping took place near San Francisco. Negotiations between the leaders of the two superpowers lasted about four hours.
One of the key agreements is the resumption of military ties between the countries. Beijing severed those contacts last year when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.
According to media reports, Xi Jinping assured Joe Biden that China is not planning military action against Taiwan “in the coming years.”
