US still seeking dialogue with Chinese military chiefs, Pentagon says

Name: Why has the relationship between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan taken a turn for the worse?
Uploaded: 2021-05-26T03:48:42.000Z
Duration: 10 min 22 s
Description: Why has the relationship between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan taken a turn for the worse?

Defence department wants talks with counterparts in Beijing, and is working on how it could happen, spokesman says

Beijing has reportedly rejected three such requests from US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who a Chinese source said had departed from protocol

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Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the US side wanted to have a dialogue with counterparts in Beijing. Photo: AP

Teddy Ng

Published: 11:48am, 26 May 2021Updated: 12:00am, 27 May 2021

The United States said it was still trying to set up dialogue with Chinese military chiefs after talks between the two militaries were prevented by protocol disagreements.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said US officials “certainly desire to have a dialogue with our counterparts in Beijing”.

“We desire to have a dialogue with our counterparts in Beijing, and we’re still working our way through what that’s going to look like and how that’s going to transpire,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

But Kirby did not confirm media reports that said US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin’s request for telephone discussions with Xu Qiliang, vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, had been rejected by Beijing.

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Why has the relationship between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan taken a turn for the worse?

The Financial Times reported that Beijing had on three occasions rejected Austin’s requests to speak to Xu, citing an anonymous source from the US defence department. On Monday, nationalistic Chinese tabloid Global Times said the Pentagon “did not follow diplomatic protocol”.