US, China agree to set up military-to-military channels, Hegseth says

Following the “historic” meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, the US defense secretary claims that the two countries have come to terms with setting up military-to-military channels to “deconflict and deescalate any problems.”

Pete Hegseth claimed that he and Dong Jun, the Chinese counterpart, made the decision after receiving a call the night before in a statement on X on Saturday.

Beijing didn’t respond right away.

Hegseth claimed that the pair, who also met in Malaysia following the Trump-Xi summit in South Korea, “agree that our two great and strong countries’ peace, stability, and good relations are their best assets.”

He continued, “Admiral Dong and I both agreed that we should establish military-to-military channels to resolve any conflicts and defuse any issues that may arise.”

Experts have long advocated direct military ties between the two superpowers, whose naval bases are well-known in the Asia Pacific, claiming that using hotlines would prevent an unintentional escalation.

As tensions between the two countries continue to rise, these contacts have, however, remained unreliable.

The US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reported in May that, between 2017 and 2021, the majority of the more than 90 communication channels between the US and China remained active during Trump’s first term as president.

Under the administration of Joe Biden, the country’s then-president, when Nancy Pelosi, the then-speaker of the House of Representatives, visited Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its province, China cut off its ties to the US military in 2022.

In the tense South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, the development was followed by a number of close knuckles between the Chinese and US militaries.

In what the US military called an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver,” a Chinese fighter jet was accused of crossing in front of a US surveillance flight over the South China Sea in May 2023. A Chinese Navy destroyer sailed across the path of a US destroyer in another “unsafe” maneuver days later, in June that year, according to the US military.

Beijing at the time claimed that the US was to blame and that its rival had purposefully “provoked risk” by sending ships close to its shores.

Following a meeting between Biden and Xi in November 2023, the two leaders agreed to resume high-level military-to-military communications.

Since Trump’s January, according to the CSIS, these communications have been “limited” since then, according to a report released in May. Additionally, Trump stepped up a trade war against Beijing, noting that neither the US nor China have any crisis management mechanisms, which further increases the likelihood of an escalated conflict.

Trump and Xi discussed ways to lower the temperature at their meeting in South Korea on October 30. One example is the US president’s reduction of the country’s tariffs from 57% to 47%.

Trump added that China had consented to maintain the flow of rare earth metals. However, no deal was made regarding the potential sale of Nvidia’s advanced semiconductor chips or the sale of TikTok to US investors.

Trump also stated that Xi would visit the US soon and that he would travel to China in April.

On the day after Trump-Xi summit, Hegseth met Dong, the head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ summit in Malaysia.

In a post on X following the meeting, he wrote that “I stressed the importance of maintaining a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific and that the United States is concerned about China’s activities in the South China Sea, Taiwan, and toward its allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific.”

The United States “does not seek conflict,” he continued, “it will continue to veer fervently and ensure it has the resources to do so” in the region.

The Chinese Ministry of National Defense remarked that Dong had warned Hegseth that the unstoppable historical trend was resulting from China’s and Taiwan’s reunification, and that the US should use caution when speaking and acting about the Taiwan issue.

According to Dong, who was quoted as saying that China was unyielding its national security interests while pursuing peaceful development.

Source: Aljazeera