US-China high-level military dialogues gather pace; new crisis meeting on horizon
- Biden cites restored exchanges, including Defence Policy Coordination Talks and Military Maritime Consultative Agreement, at Nato summit
The resumption of high-level military dialogues between the United States and China has gathered pace, with a crisis-communications meeting possibly taking place before the end of this year, the Pentagon has confirmed.
US President Joe Biden first disclosed the restoration of talks – which had been suspended by Beijing almost two years ago to retaliate for a visit by then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan – during a news conference at the end of the Nato summit on Thursday.
Biden also said that following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California in November, the two sides had agreed to put the “spy balloon” incident from early 2023 that had soured relations behind them and re-establish direct communication channels.
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Defence ministers from China and US meet on sidelines of Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore
“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 said at the briefing at the White House.
In the news conference, Biden also touted his engagement with Xi.
“Like I said, I’m dealing with Xi right now, in direct contact with him,” Biden said, when asked if he would be able to deal with leaders like Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Defence Department spokesman Pete Nguyen subsequently confirmed to Task & Purpose, a US-based online publication, that senior American and Chinese military leaders had held talks, both in January and April.
