USA and China want to resume military communication

2023-11-16 05:10:39

After a long period of radio silence, the USA and China want to resume communication between the armed forces of both countries. US President Joe Biden announced this on Wednesday (local time) after a meeting with China’s head of state Xi Jingping in Woodside, south of San Francisco. The move was “critically important,” Biden said. Without communication, accidents and misunderstandings could occur.

According to the accompanying press from the White House, it is now planned, among other things, that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet his Chinese colleague. There should also be operational discussions between high-ranking military leaders from both countries. The US commander of the Pacific Air Forces will also take part, it said. Shipmasters should also exchange ideas with each other.

Beijing rejected requests for talks

The US government has complained several times in recent months that the usual direct military communication with China is not working and that this could lead to dangerous misunderstandings and miscalculations. For example, Beijing had turned down requests for talks at the defense minister level.

Washington had repeatedly warned that communication between the militaries of both countries was crucial to the responsible management of relations. The Chinese have essentially cut off these communication links, which poses dangers.

Agreement to combat fentanyl epidemic

In the fight against the import of the deadly drug fentanyl into the USA, Biden is securing more support from China. Biden said on Wednesday that he had agreed on measures with Xi to curb the export of components for fentanyl production and tablet pressing from China. The drug kills many people in the USA – more than gun violence, he emphasized. According to the US national institute that studies drug abuse, more than 70,000 people died from overdoses of synthetic opioids – especially fentanyl – in 2021 alone.

The US government accuses China of playing a crucial role in America’s drug epidemic – through the production of fentanyl, which is entering the US in large quantities. The synthetic opioid is 50 times more powerful than heroin and has led to a massive drug problem in the United States. For Biden, who is running for re-election in November 2024, the agreement is particularly important in terms of domestic policy. The drug epidemic in the USA is affecting people in the country, and Republicans have put pressure on the president in recent months to take a tougher stance towards China on the issue.

Biden and Xi want to keep in touch by phone

Biden and Xi want to be easier to reach each other by phone in the future. They agreed to this at their meeting, Biden said. He and Xi had not seen each other in person or spoken since the G20 summit in Bali in November 2022.

At the same time, in response to a question at the end of his press conference, Biden confirmed that he continued to view Xi as a “dictator” – in the sense that he “leads a communist country that is based on a completely different form of government than ours.”

Biden had previously casually called Xi a dictator in June, sparking outrage in Beijing. The Chinese Foreign Ministry called the statement “absurd and extremely irresponsible” and spoke of a “political provocation.” Biden said at a campaign event with donors at the time that Xi was upset that he did not know about the Chinese surveillance balloon that flew over the United States in February. “This is a great embarrassment for dictators if they did not know what was happening,” said the US President.

In preparation for the meeting between Biden and Xi, both countries had recently tried to achieve rapprochement at various levels, including through various meetings of high-ranking American and Chinese government members. The two sides also came closer again on a military level at the Xiangshan Forum at the end of October.

Taiwan harbors great potential for conflict

After months of radio silence, a US delegation traveled to Beijing for the security dialogue, which is effectively a Chinese edition of the Munich Security Conference for the Asia-Pacific region. China’s second-highest military commander appeared open to speaking to the US side again.

This is also important given tensions in the Indo-Pacific. The issue of Taiwan, for example, holds great potential for conflict between the USA and China. The island republic, which is only separated from China by a strait, has had a democratic government for decades. However, China sees the country with more than 23 million inhabitants as part of its territory.

Majid Sattar and Jochen Stahnke Published/Updated: Recommendations: 35 Jochen Stahnke, Beijing Published/Updated: Recommendations: 12 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 8

The area is often the scene of military demonstrations of power. There are concerns that China could invade Taiwan like Russia invaded Ukraine. Biden had promised Taiwan military support from US troops in such an event. In the past, Beijing has always forbidden any “interference” by the USA in internal affairs. This fueled fears that the world could be facing the next major international conflict.