US, China senior military leaders hold usual talks on international issues

Senior military officials from the United States and China hold usual talks on issues related to rising global tensions.

The meetings of the military leaders of the two sides ended on Sunday in Beijing with officials from both countries discussing their views regarding ongoing issues such as the Russia-Ukraine war, Beijing's maritime claims in the South China Sea and the "one China" principle regarding Chinese Taipei.

The two sides' militaries just resumed their meeting in January after a two-year moratorium caused by soured diplomatic relations linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic repercussions.

The bilateral talks have been set up as a relief valve to avoid conflict.

US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had met in San Francisco last November in hopes of mending the cut ties between the two sides’ militaries.

The two leaders' consensus was to resume military-to-military communications. That means US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and senior Pentagon officials up and down the military chain of command, would engage in meetings and talks with their Chinese counterparts.

During their meeting, Biden said the US and China would talk more about artificial intelligence, as well.

“We’re going to get our experts together and discuss risk and safety issues,” he said.

Beijing has long sought to be treated as an equal by Washington, and Biden sought to leverage Beijing’s ambitions with Xi to address two devastating wars.

Biden appealed to Xi to use his influence to try to calm the conflict between the genocidal Israeli regime and the Palestinian people trapped in the besieged Gaza Strip in West Asia.

The US president also urged Xi to continue to withhold military support for Russia’s special military operation in Donbas, eastern Ukraine.

Michael Chase, deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, Taiwan and Mongolia led the visiting US delegation taking part in the bilateral Defense Policy Coordination Talks.

Last week, Chase also attended the 11th Beijing Xiangsha Forum, a high-level conference on defense and security with more than 100 world countries and organizations participating in the event.

Beijing to ‘crush’ any foreign incursion in South China Sea, says Chinese military official

A Chinese military official says Beijing will ‘crush’ any foreign encroachment in the South China Sea.

The Xiangsha Forum is China’s equivalent to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

The Shangri-La Dialogue is a platform for defense and security officials, government experts and business leaders of mostly Asia-Pacific states to discuss pressing international issues affecting the region.

Although the US has no territorial claim over the waters or features in the South China Sea, it regularly conducts patrols.

China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, which overlaps with the maritime territories claimed by the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Brunei.

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