U.S., Chinese defense leaders resume military-to-military talks

FORUM Staff

United States and People’s Republic of China (PRC) defense leaders reiterated their respective security postures in discussions intended to defuse actions or misunderstandings that could spark a confrontation.

The renewed engagements in mid-2024 follow a two-year lull in dialogue and center on issues such as Taiwan, the South China Sea and the PRC’s support of Russian military industries. The PRC cut off military-to-military talks after a U.S. Congressional delegation visited self-governed Taiwan in August 2022. Beijing agreed to restart communication after U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping met in California in November 2023.

Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory and threatens to annex it by force. The PRC also claims most of the South China Sea, including areas within other nations’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ), and continues to disregard a 2016 international tribunal ruling dismissing those maritime claims as legally invalid. The PRC reportedly has supplied Russian industries with components for weapons used in Moscow’s unprovoked war against Ukraine.

By contrast, the U.S. and its Allies and Partners oppose any unilateral change to the status quo regarding Taiwan and have condemned the CCP’s aggressive actions in the South China Sea. They also are among the dozens of nations that have imposed sanctions on Russia over its invasion.

Tensions have been mounting in the South China Sea, which analysts label a hotspot. A Chinese coast guard ship rammed a smaller Philippine vessel in August 2024, gouging a hole in its hull above the water line. Another Chinese coast guard assault on Philippine boats resupplying a military outpost on Second Thomas Shoal in June injured a Philippine Sailor and damaged Philippine vessels and equipment. Both incidents, and other clashes with the PRC, occurred within the Philippines’ EEZ.

Under their longstanding mutual defense treaty, the Philippines and the U.S. are committed to defending each other against an external armed attack, which has raised concern that the PRC’s actions in the South China Sea could spark a wider conflict.

Since defense talks resumed, U.S. and Chinese officials have conferred in person and virtually. Adm. Samuel Paparo, Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, held a video teleconference with Gen. Wu Yanan, commander of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Southern Theater Command, in September 2024. Paparo called for sustaining communication between the U.S. military and the PLA, noting that top-level discussions can clarify intent and reduce misperceptions. Citing recent PLA interactions with U.S. Allies, he urged compliance with international laws and norms to ensure safety.

Days earlier, Michael Chase, deputy U.S. assistant defense secretary for the PRC, Mongolia and Taiwan, attended the Xiangshan Forum, an international security conference in Beijing. “The bottom line is that we’re going to keep open lines of communication because that’s important for preventing competition from veering into conflict,” Chase said. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin relayed a similar message at the Shangri-La Dialogue defense summit in Singapore in June, saying the U.S. wants a relationship based on competition, not contention.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Chinese diplomat Wang Yi for about 11 hours over two days in August 2024. Sullivan expressed concern about the PRC’s “unfair trade policies” and its support of Russian defense industries, The New York Times newspaper reported. Sullivan also met with Xi during his three-day visit to Beijing.

“This is a mature and unusually candid channel,” Rush Doshi, director of the China Strategy Initiative at the U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations think tank, told The New York Times. Doshi, who participated in previous meetings between Sullivan and Wang, said the men “have spent a lot of time together over the last year, and that has created some stability even as the relation has grown significantly more competitive.”