The top US and Chinese generals spoke on Thursday for the first time in over a year, marking the end of a strained silence between senior US and Chinese military officials that had deeply concerned the Pentagon,
CNN reports.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., had a video conference call with his Chinese counterpart on Thursday, Joint Staff spokesperson Capt. Jereal Dorsey said.
Brown spoke with the People’s Liberation Army of China Chief of the Joint Staff Department Gen. Liu Zhenli, also marking the first time the two have talked since Brown became chairman.
“Gen. Brown discussed the importance of working together to responsibly manage competition, avoid miscalculations, and maintain open and direct lines of communication,” Dorsey said. “Gen. Brown reiterated the importance of the People’s Liberation Army engaging in substantive dialogue to reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings.”
During the meeting, Liu told Brown that the “key to developing a healthy, stable, and sustainable military-to-military relationship” was that the US “must have a correct understanding of China.”
“The premise is that the United States should respect China’s core interests and major concerns, and focus on promoting pragmatic cooperation and enhancing mutual understanding,” Liu said, according to a readout released by China’s Ministry of National Defense Thursday.
Leaders of the two militaries had not spoken in more than a year after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022, which China responded to with military drills around the island. A number of high-profile incidents have occurred since then, including a Chinese spy balloon traveling across the continental US and an increase in “coercive and risky” behavior by Chinese pilots against US aircraft in the last two years over the East and South China Seas.
Restoring that communication was one of the priorities in talks last month between President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping.
“My responsibility is to make this rational and manageable, so it doesn’t result in conflict,” Biden said at the time. “That’s what I’m all about.”
US military leaders have said for months that the silence from China was of significant concern. Following Biden’s meeting with Xi, the Pentagon said this month that the policy office was in “active coordination” with Beijing to establish communication.
