Acting U.S. Secretary for Defense Mark Esper attends a NATO Defence Ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium June 26, 2019. John Thys/Pool via REUTERS
BEIJING (Reuters) - China hopes the new U.S. defence chief will seek to avoid confrontation with China, the defence ministry said on Thursday, in the Chinese military's first official reaction to the appointment of acting U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
The world's two largest economies are in the middle of a bruising trade war, but also have broader military disagreements, including over Chinese island building in the disputed South China Sea and U.S. support for self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by China as its own.
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