DThe USA and China decided in November to resume communication between the two countries' armed forces after a long period of radio silence: Now there has been an exchange at the military leadership level for the first time in more than a year. US Chief of Staff Charles Brown and his Chinese colleague Liu Zhenli spoke to each other via video link on Thursday, the Pentagon announced.
USA sees “positive development”
In the conversation, Brown made it clear, among other things, how important the exchange was in order to avoid misjudgments and the associated potential risks in military operations, said Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder. For Brown, who has been in office since September, it was the first phone call with Liu. Ryder described the conversation as a “positive development.”
The USA and China are trying to stabilize their strained relations. US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in San Francisco in mid-November. The US government had previously complained several times that the usual direct military communication with China was not working and that this could lead to dangerous misunderstandings and miscalculations.
For example, Beijing had turned down requests for talks at the defense minister level. Washington had repeatedly warned that communication between the militaries of both countries was crucial to the responsible management of relations.
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