Senior US and Chinese defence officials met in Washington this week in the latest sign of renewed military-to-military communication as the two countries seek to stabilise ties.
Alvaro Smith, a deputy assistant secretary of defence for China, Taiwan and Mongolia at the Pentagon, met with China’s Major General Ye Jiang, Deputy Director of the Central Military Commission Office for International Military Cooperation, for the 19th annual US-China Defence Policy Coordination Talks from December 15 to 16, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
The talks this week follow Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s meeting with China’s Minister of National Defence, Admiral Dong Jun, on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Defence Ministers Meeting Plus in Malaysia on October 31.
That was the first face-to-face meeting between the two countries’ defence chiefs during the second term of the Donald Trump administration.
After those talks, which were followed by a phone call, Hegseth said the two countries had agreed to “set up military-to-military channels to deconflict and de-escalate any problems that arise”.
Smith reiterated that message this week. In a Tuesday statement, the Pentagon said Smith highlighted the department’s “support for a wider range of military-to-military communications” with the People’s Liberation Army “with the goal of supporting strategic stability as well as crisis deconfliction and de-escalation, more broadly”.
Smith also explained that such lines of communication reinforce ongoing efforts by Trump “to achieve a stable peace and respectful relations” between the US and China, according to the statement.
The assistant secretary of defence also stated that US interests in the Indo-Pacific were “significant, but also scoped and reasonable”, and that the Pentagon stood ready to defend them.
The forum, traditionally held annually, alternates between Beijing and Washington and provides a channel for the two sides to raise concerns and coordinate further engagements throughout the year.
The previous two rounds were held in January and September last year, following a multi-year pause after China severed military talks in response to former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022.
Beijing views Taiwan as part of China and to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
The messaging from the Defence Department to Beijing since Hegseth’s meeting with Dong has emphasised stabilisation and engagement, even as core disputes over regional security remain unresolved.
Hegseth, in November, called the October summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea a historic “G2 meeting” that “set the tone for everlasting peace and success for the US and China” – a departure from his remarks at a defence forum in Singapore earlier in the year that angered Beijing.
The G2 term, first used by the US President to describe the two countries, has drawn backlash from some US lawmakers.
The G2 – or the Group of Two – is a concept depicting a bipolar world order dominated by the US and China. While the term has occasionally been used to describe the two as twin global economic and military powers, it has rarely been used in American political circles, as it implies peer status for China relative to the US.
Dong, for his part, has sent similar messages in recent weeks, urging more communication between the two sides while stressing that Beijing would safeguard its national security interests.
“We hope the US will take concrete action to support its statements of not containing China and not seeking conflict,” Dong said, according to a Chinese defence ministry statement after his meeting with Hegseth.
“The two countries should strengthen decision-making level communication to increase trust and eliminate suspicion ... and encourage universities, academia and the strategic community to provide support for the two militaries to explore the correct way of coexisting.” -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
