Chinese military urges US to ‘correct mistakes’ to improve defence ties
- Beijing accuses Washington of lacking self-awareness and an understanding of the world today
- US Defence Department says United States aims to ‘responsibly manage competition’ between the countries
The talks were held by video conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, and involved Michael Chase, US deputy assistant secretary of defence for China, and Huang Xueping, deputy director for the Chinese military’s Office for International Military Cooperation.
Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said on Thursday that Beijing welcomed communication with China, but that the US had to take steps to resolve issues caused by its “continuous provocations and suppression of China”.
“The military relationship has faced many difficulties and challenges, but our militaries have maintained communication throughout,” Wu said.
“But the US has serious issues with its self-awareness, its perception of China and in its understanding of the world today, which is the root cause of the difficulties in the relationship between our militaries.
“We hope that the US can find the courage to correct its mistakes, and to work with China to answer the critical question of how to properly manage China-US relations.”
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The US Department of Defence said that the meeting was part of the Biden administration’s efforts to “responsibly manage the competition” between the two countries by “maintaining open lines of communication” with China.
“During the talks, the two sides held a frank, in-depth and open discussion on a range of issues affecting the US-[China] defence relationship,” the department said. “Both sides reaffirmed consensus to keep communication channels open.”
A Chinese source said in August that China had maintained mid-level military communication with the US through the defence attaché at the US embassy in Beijing, and that the crisis in Afghanistan had been one of the “most urgent issues of risk management” that had to be discussed.
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The talks resumed after Kurt Campbell, the White House’s most senior official on Asia, said military hotlines between the two sides had been ringing “kind of endlessly in empty rooms”, and that there were concerns about effective procedures with China to head off miscalculations or concerns about incidents and accidents.
“For a host of reasons, the Chinese have been reluctant to engage deeply in these efforts,” he told The Guardian in May. “They fear that by establishing these mechanisms, they give credence and legitimacy to American military exercises and operations near their borders and they don’t want to do that.”
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A Pentagon task force has been created to evaluate US military strategies and operations towards China, but there is still considerable uncertainty around his administration’s policy approach towards what Biden termed the US’ “most serious competitor”.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has yet to speak to his Chinese counterpart, with Beijing reportedly rejecting US requests for him to meet Xu Qiliang, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission. Xu is higher in the Chinese hierarchy than Austin’s nominal opposite number, Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe.
Austin travelled to Southeast Asia in July, stressing the need for the US to counter Chinese claims to most of the South China Sea and shoring up relations with allies such as the Philippines. Beijing responded by saying Washington was serving its “selfish geopolitical gains” to “make an issue out of China at every turn”.
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Tang Xiaoyang, an international relations professor at Tsinghua University, said Biden was seeking a channel with China to help avoid unexpected incidents – a clear contrast from the more random style of his predecessor Donald Trump. Although the specifics of the call were not revealed, the Aukus partnership would have been a key item to discuss, he said.
“We are seeing that the Biden government’s China policy is slowly being formed,” he said.
“But the US military’s competitive posture towards China has not been relaxed, so these talks are more about taking another step towards establishing this communication mechanism.”
Additional reporting by Rachel Zhang
