US defense chief speaks with Chinese counterpart, Pentagon says – FBS International change Bitcoin Stock

By Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with China’s defense minister on Tuesday, the first engagement the 2 possess had in over a year because the 2 countries gaze to revive defense force ties.

The phone call comes as U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping possess sought to care for watch over tensions and after the 2 leaders closing year resumed yelp defense force talks.

In a readout after the choice, the Pentagon talked about Austin “underscored the importance of appreciate for excessive seas freedom of navigation guaranteed beneath world legislation, namely within the South China Sea.”

An escalating diplomatic dispute and most novel maritime stir-ins between China and the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, possess made the highly strategic South China Sea a most likely flashpoint between Washington and Beijing.

The Pentagon talked about the 2 moreover talked about Russia’s war in Ukraine, North Korea, and Washington’s commitment to the one China protection.

Austin closing spoke with his Chinese counterpart in 2022, when he met China’s defense minister at the time, Wei Fenghe, on the sidelines of a gathering of Southeast Asian countries in Cambodia.

Old to the November meeting between Biden and Xi, relations between the superpowers had change into extra and extra acrimonious, with friction over concerns from Taiwan to China’s defense force activity within the South China Sea.

In October, the U.S. defense force talked about Chinese defense force airplane had implemented volatile or reckless maneuvers conclude to American airplane on the subject of 200 conditions since 2021.

Since then, the USA’ top defense force fundamental has spoken with his Chinese counterpart.

Earlier this month, U.S. defense force officials met their Chinese counterparts for a chain of meetings in Hawaii fervent in how the 2 countries can feature safely.

U.S. defense force officials possess lengthy sought to defend commence traces of communication with their Chinese counterparts to mitigate the possibility of skill flare-united states of americaor fashion out any accidents.

“Secretary Austin emphasized the importance of continuing to commence traces of defense force-to-defense force communication between the USA and the PRC,” the Pentagon talked about, the order of an acronym for the Other folks’s Republic of China.