Top PLA Navy commander will accompany Chinese defence minister on trip to US
Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong and Defence Minister Wei Fenghe will visit Washington after an invitation from the US defence secretary
China’s naval chief will join his defence minister’s trip to Washington later this year, in a sign that the two nations' militaries are willing to communicate despite rising tensions over the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.
Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong, the People’s Liberation Army Navy commander, will accompany Defence Minister Wei Fenghe on the visit, the Chinese ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai, said on Monday at an embassy event in Washington celebrating the anniversary of the PLA’s founding.
Shen, the former commander of China’s South Sea Fleet, and his US counterpart, Admiral John Richardson, chief of naval operations and former head of the US Navy’s submarine force, spoke for an hour via a video teleconference in July 2017, when Richardson asked Shen to exert influence on North Korea to rein in its advancing nuclear and missile programmes.
Shen’s participation in the coming trip had not been made public until Cui’s announcement.
A US Defence Department spokesman on Wednesday declined to provide details of the visit, including its date, saying the Pentagon would not do so until closer to the meeting.