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Pentagon to send defence officials to China’s Xiangshan security forum in hopes of restarting communication
- Chinese media says delegation will be led by Xanthi Carras from the US defence department
- Washington hopes to end freeze with opportunities to kick-start upcoming talks, including potential Biden-Xi summit
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The US Defence Department is looking to “kick-start” high-level, military-to-military dialogue with Chinese counterparts through at least two events that officials from both countries will be attending, including an annual security forum hosted by China next week.
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Without naming specific American officials, Michael Chase, deputy assistant secretary of defence for China, said the Pentagon planned “to send participants at a level that’s consistent with what we’ve done in the past”.
Chase’s predecessor in the Donald Trump administration, Chad Sbragia, was the highest-ranking US official to attend the forum in 2019, the last time it was held in person.
“In terms of hopefully … kick-starting some of the military-to-military engagements, yes, I’m hopeful that we’ll have an opportunity to do that in the coming months,” he said during a discussion at the Atlantic Council on Monday.
China, US offer competing security visions for Asia-Pacific at security forum
A Defence Department spokesman later confirmed that the US delegation would be led by Xanthi Carras, principal director in the office of the deputy assistant secretary of defence for China, Taiwan and Mongolia.
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