TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The U.S. and China have resumed military-to-military dialogue despite being at odds with each other over developments in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea.
Cynthia Carras, the Pentagon’s principal director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia affairs, has been confirmed to represent the U.S. Defense Department at the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing this month, per an AP report. The conference, which runs from Oct. 29-31, is hosted by China’s Ministry of Defense and focuses on security cooperation.
Delegations from more than 90 countries and international organizations are expected to attend.
China abruptly halted military exchanges after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last August.
The Pentagon said in a statement that it “welcomes the opportunity to engage with (People’s Liberation Army) representatives at the Xiangshan Forum on ensuring open and reliable lines of communication, ensuring crisis communications channels, reducing strategic and operational risk, and avoiding misperceptions.”
This development follows a string of dangerous aerial encounters between U.S. and Chinese military aircraft in the past six months. On Tuesday (Oct. 24), a Chinese J-11 pilot intercepted a U.S. Air Force B-52 aircraft, flying “in an unsafe and unprofessional manner” and nearly caused a collision, according to a U.S. Indo-Pacific Command statement.
The U.S. released its annual Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China report on Oct. 19, in which it revealed that as of May 2023, China has more than 500 operational nuclear warheads. The document also called out China for engaging in "unsafe, unprofessional, and other behaviors that seek to impinge upon the ability of the United States and other nations to safely conduct operations where international law allows."
