U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and China’s defense minister held their first face-to-face talks in 18 months on Friday, exploring tentative steps to manage military tensions despite their opposing positions on Taiwan and the South China Sea. and other disputes.
The 75-minute meeting in Singapore between Mr. Austin and Admiral Dong Jun, his Chinese counterpart, came after a succession of Biden administration officials visited Beijing for discussions on trade imbalances, US limits on technology trade with China, Chinese support for Russia during its war against Ukraine and other sources of tension.
President Biden argued that the United States and China must maintain high-level communication to avoid possible crises. Yet military issues remain the most intractable area of tension between the two nations, and one where disagreements could escalate into conflict, particularly in the Pacific Ocean, where their military ships and aircraft come closer.
Mr. Austin and Admiral Dong discussed possible measures to prevent accidents or communication problems from escalating into conflict. Mr. Austin referred to an earlier proposal that Chinese and U.S. military commanders would hold phone calls in the coming months, and he “welcomed plans to host a crisis communications working group by the end of the year,” the Pentagon said in a statement. a statement on the talks.
“Secretary Austin emphasized the importance of maintaining open lines of military communication between the United States and the PRC,” the Pentagon said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Senior U.S. Defense Department officials told reporters that Mr. Austin proposed that the commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. Samuel J. Paparo Jr., hold calls with his Chinese counterparts. The Chinese and U.S. militaries created a crisis communications working group in 2020 to discuss ideas for defusing a possible conflict, but the the group only met once.
A Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman, Colonel Wu Qian, said Admiral Dong and Mr Austin had “agreed to have more communications and exchanges in the next stage”, but the Colonel Wu seemed more cautious about the timing of any calls between them. commanders and a new meeting of the crisis communications group.
“Relevant departments of our two militaries are in coordination and communication regarding this,” he said when asked about the calls.
The military rivalry between China and the United States and fears that incidents at sea could escalate into crisis are rooted in long-standing disputes that are not easily resolved. These include China’s claims to Taiwan, an island democracy that depends on the United States for its security, and Beijing’s increasingly assertive claims to large areas of the South China Sea, which have caused alarm his neighbors.
Pentagon officials also warned that People’s Liberation Army military aircraft and ships have become increasingly aggressive and reckless in closely tracking and harassing US military ships and aircraft flying near China, as well as those of allies like Australia, often for intelligence gathering purposes.
Mr. Austin pressed Admiral Dong about Chinese military activities around Taiwan. And Mr. Austin also signaled that the United States would continue to send military ships and aircraft into the international skies and seas near China, despite frequent harassment from the Chinese military.
“The Secretary of State made clear that the United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate – safely and responsibly – wherever international law allows,” the Pentagon summary of the negotiations said.
But Beijing rejects the idea that other countries have the right to operate military plans and ships near China’s shores. In its officials’ view, agreeing to stricter rules regarding encounters between military planes and ships would simply give U.S. forces greater leeway to approach China’s shores and retrieve useful images and signals.
“China believes that being able to navigate does not mean being able to lash out,” Colonel Wu told reporters. “We believe that security is mutual and that it is not a question of letting one party benefit from absolute security at the expense of the other. »
For more than two years, the Pentagon has worked to support Ukraine and contain risks in the Middle East while Israeli forces battle Hamas. But in the eyes of Pentagon planners, China’s military growth remains a “major challenge”: a long-term tectonic shift that could, if mismanaged, drag the United States into war with another power. nuclear.
The United States has by far the largest military in the world. The Pentagon budget remains about three times larger than China’s annual military spending, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
But Beijing does not have the same global commitments and operations as the US military and has focused on projecting its power in Asia, particularly towards Taiwan and beyond the seas, where Beijing is in territorial conflict with its neighbors, from Japan to Indonesia.
Admiral Dong became defense minister late last year after the abrupt disappearance of his predecessor, apparently caught up in growing investigations into corruption and other wrongdoing within the People’s Liberation Army. He is seen as lacking the power to make major strategic decisions.
“He is not a member of the Central Military Commission, let alone the Politburo,” said Drew Thompson, a visiting scholar at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, referring to the two main levels of power in the country. the Chinese Communist Party.
“This is an opportunity for both sides to exchange well-established talking points,” said Mr. Thompson, a former Pentagon official responsible for relations with the Chinese military.
Admiral Dong’s predecessor, General Li Shangfu, was under US sanctions and refused to speak with Mr Austin in Singapore last year. Mr. Austin and Admiral Dong previously spoke via video link in April. Mr. Austin last spoke face-to-face with a Chinese defense minister in November 2022when he met General Wei Fenghe in Cambodia.
Summing up the latest discussions, Colonel Wu offered a familiar refrain: “It’s better to meet and talk than not at all.” »
