For the first time since United States President Joe Biden took office in January, there was talks held between a senior Pentagon official and the Chinese military. The talks were focused on management of managing risk between the two largest economies of the world, claimed a report published by the news agency Reuters quoting information form a US official.
For years, countering China has been at the core of the national security policy of the US and the Washington-Beijing rivalry has been described by the Biden administration as "the biggest geopolitical test" of this century.
In recent years, there have been heightened tensions in the relations between China and the United States as the two largest economies of the world clashed over a range of issues – from Taiwan and the human rights record of China to its military activity in the South China Sea.
Amid the tensions and heated rhetoric between the countries, military officials of the US have strived to have open lines of communication with their Chinese counterparts so that it would be possible to mitigate potential future flare-ups or deal with any accidents.
According to the Reuters report, there was an interactions last week between Michael Chase, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, with Chinese Major General Huang Xueping, who is the deputy director for the People's Liberation Army Office for International Military Cooperation.
"(They) utilized the U.S.-PRC Defense Telephone Link to conduct a secure video conference," the US official reportedly told Reuters.
"Both sides agreed on the importance of maintaining open channels of communication between the two militaries," the official told Reuters.
So far, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has not yet spoken to his Chinese counterpart, partly because it has not yet been ascertained which Chinese official was Austin's counterpart, said officials.
The US welcomes competition and does not seek conflict with Beijing, Vice President Kamala Harris said on Thursday, but added that the US will continue to raise its voice on issues such as maritime disputes in the South China Sea.
Various parts of the South China Sea are claimed as their own by China, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan. The South China Sea is a critical maritime route with many shipping lanes and has rich gas fields and fishing grounds.
Sanctions against China have been ramped up by the current US administration over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
In contrast to the strategy followed by his predecessor Donald Trump, getting together allies and partners to put up a united front for countering what the White House describes as China's increasingly coercive economic and foreign policies has been the turst of the Biden administration.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
For years, countering China has been at the core of the national security policy of the US and the Washington-Beijing rivalry has been described by the Biden administration as "the biggest geopolitical test" of this century.
In recent years, there have been heightened tensions in the relations between China and the United States as the two largest economies of the world clashed over a range of issues – from Taiwan and the human rights record of China to its military activity in the South China Sea.
Amid the tensions and heated rhetoric between the countries, military officials of the US have strived to have open lines of communication with their Chinese counterparts so that it would be possible to mitigate potential future flare-ups or deal with any accidents.
According to the Reuters report, there was an interactions last week between Michael Chase, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, with Chinese Major General Huang Xueping, who is the deputy director for the People's Liberation Army Office for International Military Cooperation.
"(They) utilized the U.S.-PRC Defense Telephone Link to conduct a secure video conference," the US official reportedly told Reuters.
"Both sides agreed on the importance of maintaining open channels of communication between the two militaries," the official told Reuters.
So far, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has not yet spoken to his Chinese counterpart, partly because it has not yet been ascertained which Chinese official was Austin's counterpart, said officials.
The US welcomes competition and does not seek conflict with Beijing, Vice President Kamala Harris said on Thursday, but added that the US will continue to raise its voice on issues such as maritime disputes in the South China Sea.
Various parts of the South China Sea are claimed as their own by China, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan. The South China Sea is a critical maritime route with many shipping lanes and has rich gas fields and fishing grounds.
Sanctions against China have been ramped up by the current US administration over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
In contrast to the strategy followed by his predecessor Donald Trump, getting together allies and partners to put up a united front for countering what the White House describes as China's increasingly coercive economic and foreign policies has been the turst of the Biden administration.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
