Washington, Dec. 22, (dpa/GNA) – The United States and China’s military leadership spoke to each other via a video link on Thursday for the first time in more than a year, the Pentagon reported.
In November, the two super powers decided to resume communication between their armed forces and on Thursday US Chief of Staff Charles Brown and his Chinese counterpart Liu Zhenli spoke to each other in a video link.
Brown emphasized how important the exchange was in order to avoid misjudgements and the associated potential risks in military operations, said Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder. It was the first telephone call with Liu for Brown, who has been in office since September. Ryder called the development “positive.”
The US and China are trying to stabilize their tense relations. US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in San Francisco in mid-November.
Washington had previously complained on several occasions that the usual direct military communication with Beijing was not working and that this could lead to dangerous misunderstandings and miscalculations.
Beijing had, for example, turned down requests for talks at the defence minister level. Washington had repeatedly warned that communication between the two countries’ militaries was crucial for the responsible management of relations.
GNA