Top US General, Chinese counterpart discuss ways to improve crisis communication

Washington [US], July 8 (ANI):

Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley spoke with his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng, on Thursday to discuss ways to improve crisis communications and reduce strategic risk, the Pentagon said.

"Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley spoke with People's Liberation Army of China Chief of the Joint Staff Department Gen. Li Zuocheng today by video teleconference," the Pentagon said in a press release. "Gen. Milley discussed the need to responsibly manage competition and maintain open lines of communication. Gen. Milley underscored the importance of the People's Liberation Army engaging in substantive dialogue on improving crisis communications and reducing strategic risk," the statement added.

Last month, National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan met with Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi in Luxembourg where the two sides discussed ways to avoid reducing misunderstanding and avoiding miscalculations amid rising tension between the two countries over Taiwan and other issues.

This meeting, which followed their May 18 phone call, included a candid discussion of a number of regional and global security issues, as well as key issues in US-China relations.

"Sullivan underscored the importance of maintaining open lines of communication to manage competition between our two countries," the White House had said in a statement.

According to the Xinhua News agency, the two sides conducted in-depth and constructive communication on China-US relations, as well as other issues of common concern. The two sides agreed that maintaining unimpeded channels for communication is necessary and beneficial.

Yang, who is the Communist Party Politburo Member and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission, noted that US President Joe Biden has repeatedly told Chinese President Xi Jinping that the US does not seek a new Cold War or aim to change China's system.

"For some time, however, the US side has been insisting on further containing and suppressing China in an all-round way. Such acts, instead of helping the United States solve its own problems, have plunged China-U.S. relations into a very difficult situation and severely damaged the exchanges and cooperation in bilateral areas," Yang had said.

China-US relations are at a critical crossroads, noted Yang. The Chinese side is ready to work together with the US side to explore ways and methods to realize this vision, yet China firmly opposes using competition to define bilateral ties, Yang had said.

He said the US side should correct its strategic perceptions of China, make the right choices, and translate President Biden's commitments into concrete actions, working together with the Chinese side in the same direction and concretely implementing the important consensus reached by the two heads of state.