US Defence Secretary James Mattis ‘looking for way ahead’ after China scraps military talks in sanctions protest
Washington seeks relations with China despite US sanctions on Beijing – aimed at punishing Moscow – for buying weapons from Russian arms exporter
US Defence Secretary James Mattis said on Monday he was seeking a way ahead for military ties with China after Beijing postponed military talks in protest at last week’s US decision to impose sanctions over China’s purchase of Russian weaponry.
Mattis travelled to China in June in an attempt to deepen military-to-military dialogue with Beijing, even as Sino-US trade tensions climbed and anxiety in Washington grew over China’s modernisation of its armed forces and its increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea.
“We believe that we do have to have a relationship with China and Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo and I are of one mind on this,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon.
“And so we’re sorting out the way ahead right now.”
China’s defence ministry has said it would recall navy chief Shen Jinlong from a visit to the United States and postpone planned talks in Beijing between Chinese and US military officials that had been set for next week.
It added that China’s military reserved the right to take further countermeasures.