President Biden’s top military adviser has told China that the United States is ready to resume military communications that Beijing suspended last year in protest of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., told reporters on Friday that restoring military dialogue between two of the world’s most powerful militaries is a goal of the Biden administration and that he has sent a letter to his Chinese counterpart counterpart, General Liu Zhenli, “informing him that I would like to do so.”
“We’ll see how it comes together,” General Brown said. “I am hopefull.”
The letter comes ahead of a meeting between President Biden and China’s Supreme Leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit next week. U.S. officials hope the two leaders will announce a resumption of military dialogue there.
Gen. Brown, who is traveling in the region this week, said reopening the channel of communication was important to prevent misunderstandings that could lead to crises. “It is extremely important to me to ensure that there are no misjudgments in this dialogue,” he said during a briefing with reporters.
A Pentagon report last month said China continues to build its strategic nuclear arsenal and will most likely have amassed 500 nuclear warheads by May, an increase of about 100 from last year’s estimate.
The report accused China’s military of taking increasingly dangerous measures to deter U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region, including what the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command called “coercive and risky” maneuvers in the skies over the South China Sea to target American forces to intimidate military aircraft.
The Chinese military is in the midst of a political upheaval: Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu was fired last month in the latest purge in Beijing’s national security ranks. There has been speculation among military analysts that General Brown’s counterpart, General Liu, could become the country’s next defense minister.