Top US and Chinese military officials talk after long break

There have been no communications between the sides since then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022

Washington should develop the “right perception” towards Beijing in order for bilateral ties to improve, Chinese General Liu Zhenli told US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Charles Q. Brown when the top military officials from the two countries talked for the first time in over a year, China’s defense ministry reports.

Beijing had put military-to-military contacts with Washington on hold after then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visited Taiwan in August 2022, which China deemed an “egregious provocation.”

For months, the Pentagon’s attempts to persuade the other side to resume communications had been in vain. However, at the summit between US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November, it was decided that the armed forces of the two nations will be speaking to each other again.

The Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement that the videoconference on Thursday between Brown and Liu, the Chief of Staff of China’s Central Military Commission Joint Staff Department, was organized at the behest of the US.

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During the discussions, the Chinese commander made it clear to his American counterpart that the Taiwan issue “is purely China’s internal affair, which brooks no foreign interference,” stressing the country’s readiness to “resolutely defend” its sovereignty and territorial integrity, the ministry said.

Liu also urged Washington to respect Beijing’s interests in the South China Sea and overall take “concrete actions to safeguard regional peace and stability,” it added.

According to the statement, the Chinese commander described the resumption of contacts with the US military as an important development. However, Liu stressed that the improvement in bilateral ties will only happen if the Americans develop the “right perception toward China… respect China’s core interests… and promote pragmatic cooperation and enhance mutual understanding.”

The Pentagon’s readout of the conversation said that Brown and Liu “discussed the importance of working together to responsibly manage competition, avoid miscalculations, and maintain open and direct lines of communication.” The highest-ranking US military officer told his counterpart that Beijing should be “engaging in substantive dialogue to reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings,” it added.

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Brown also called for lines of communication to be established between the chief of the US Indio-Pacific Command and the leaders of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern and Southern Theater Commands as well as for the resumption of dialogue in other formats. A number of global and regional security issues were also discussed, the readout said.