US and Chinese senior military leaders are talking again, Biden says
Top U.S. and Chinese military leaders met in January and April to discuss defense relations and how both countries’ naval and air forces can safely operate around each other.
JEFF SCHOGOL
POSTED ON JUL 12, 2024 4:49 PM EDT
4 MINUTE READ
US Chinese Military Talks
Direct ties between senior U.S. and Chinese military leaders have been restored following a rough patch last year when a Chinese spy balloon overflew the United States, President Joe Biden told reporters on Thursday.
In November, both Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to resume military-to-military communication, which Beijing had suspended after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August 2022 visit to Taiwan. Tensions between both countries became higher after a U.S. Air Force F-22 shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina in February 2023, causing a planned trip by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to China to be postponed.
“We’ve reestablished direct contact with China,” Biden said during Thursday’s news conference. “We set up a new mechanism. There’s a direct line between Xi and me, and our military has direct access to one another, and they contact one another when we have problems.”
Biden did not elaborate how top U.S. and Chinese leaders are communicating or at what level this “direct access” is taking place.
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/us-china-military-talks-resume/
