Chinese officials, U.S. commander meet at Fiji conference

Chinese officials, U.S. commander meet at Fiji conference

Published September 01,2023


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A Chinese delegation met with a senior U.S. army official throughout a convention earlier this month, the Pentagon stated on Thursday, a transfer that might sign a possible thawing in army relations between the 2 nations.

With U.S.-China relations at a low over nationwide safety points, together with Taiwan, U.S. export bans on superior applied sciences and China’s state-led industrial insurance policies, Washington has been attempting to restore ties between the world’s two largest economies.

But Beijing has repeatedly snubbed U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s efforts to carry an in-depth assembly together with his Chinese counterpart and army communications had typically stalled.

The head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral John Aquilino, met with Chinese army officers on the convention held in Fiji earlier this month, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder instructed reporters.

Senior army leaders from 27 nations attended the convention co-hosted by the United States and Fiji.

“We’re going to continue to do everything we can do on our part, to maintain open lines of communication to reduce the potential for miscalculation,” Ryder stated at a press convention.

Ryder stated he hoped this was an indication of extra dialogues sooner or later.

China has publicly cited U.S. sanctions as an impediment to army dialogue. Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu has been sanctioned since 2018 over the acquisition of fight plane and tools from Russia’s principal arms exporter, Rosoboronexport.

China’s Ministry of Defence stated earlier on Thursday that military-to-military communication between Beijing and Washington has “not stopped.”

“I want to clarify that China-U.S. military-to-military communication is not stopped,” stated defence ministry spokesperson Wu Qian at a weekly briefing in Beijing, including that there stay “many difficulties and obstacles” within the relationship.

Source: www.anews.com.tr