China, US militaries in crunch talks to avoid conflicts in Taiwan and South China Sea

Esper “expressed concerns about [the Chinese military’s] destabilising activity in the vicinity of Taiwan and the South China Sea, and called on [China] to honour international obligations” as well as share more of its data on Covid-19, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters in Washington on Thursday.

“There are obligations that the Chinese government is under responsibility for with regard to the [World Health Organisation] agreements, so they have a need to provide samples to provide data,” Hoffman said. “That didn’t happen and we expect them to to continue to improve their information sharing in regard of that.”

The US defence secretary also “affirmed the principles and importance of constructive, stable and result-oriented defence relationship between the United States” and the People’s Liberation Army, Hoffman said, adding that the call lasted about 90 minutes.

The conversation took place amid growing concerns about the possibility of a hot war between the two powers – especially over the South China Sea. The US sent 67 large reconnaissance planes to the contested region in July, a sharp increase on the previous two months, according to the Beijing-based South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative.

At 9pm on Wednesday, a US air force E-8C plane was detected in an area close to the southern province of Guangdong, according to the think tank. This was in addition to seven E-8C surveillance craft sightings near the Chinese coast in July, which it said represented an “upgrade of battlefield construction”.