US military talks with China are priority at Biden-Xi summit
THE White House cited a resumption of US-China military communications as a priority ahead of this week’s meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping.
“The Chinese have basically severed those communication links,” US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on CNN’s State of the Union. “President Biden would like to re-establish them. And he will look to this summit as an opportunity to try to advance the ball on that.”
The issue “has been a priority” for Biden and “we need those lines of communication so that there aren’t mistakes or miscalculations or miscommunication”, he said on CBS’s Face the Nation.
China suspended defence communications last year to protest then House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Military ties were further complicated when Beijing in March appointed a US-sanctioned general as defence minster, and cited the removal of those measures as a condition for talks with Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin.
The abrupt firing of Li Shangfu last month, however, cleared the way for Beijing to appoint a non-sanctioned minister, potentially eliminating one barrier to high-level talks. China has yet to name Li’s replacement.
Lower-level military ties have already resumed in recent months. Admiral John Aquilino, who leads the US Indo-Pacific Command, met General Xu Qiling, deputy joint chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army, in Fiji in August.
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Sullivan said a military hotline should also be restored between top defence officials “all the way down to the tactical, operational level”.
Iran is on the agenda for the Biden-Xi meeting on Wednesday (Nov 15) during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco – their first face-to-face meeting in a year and Xi’s first trip to the US in six years.
“Certainly, the question of Iran’s nuclear programme and the threat it poses will be on the agenda, as will the threat that Iran poses to regional stability, and the threat it poses to US forces in the region,” Sullivan said on CBS.
The US is seeking to tighten sanctions against Iran, which is a key source of oil for China, as Tehran supports groups such as Hamas, which carried out the Oct 7 attack on Israel. The US and Europe classify Hamas as a terrorist group. BLOOMBERG
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