Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing and Shanghai last quarter, and US President Joe Biden’s leadership and China have been stepping up contact to relieve tussles between the nuclear-armed competitors.
The commencement of military-to-military speech has been a key emphasis.
In response to then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China suspended defense contacts with the US in 2022.
Problems like an alleged Chinese spy bubble that was shot along over US aircraft, a conference between Taiwan’s then-president Tsai Ing-wen and Pelosi’s leader Kevin McCarthy, and American military assistance for Taipei more stoked tensions between Washington and Beijing in 2023.
Following a conference between Chinese leaders Xi Jinping and Biden in November of last year, the two sides came to an agreement to resump high-level military discussions.
Press Factors
That includes a communication channel between the US Indo-Pacific Command captain and Chinese officers in charge of military operations in the South China Sea, Japan, and Taiwan.
China claims almost entirely of the disputed lake, which has been the site of numerous close encounters between Chinese and American troops.
Before Biden and Xi agreed to continue military-to-military speech, Austin warned that incidents have the potential to spiral out of control, especially in the absence of clear lines of communication between American and Chinese forces.