White House laments continuing lack of military dialogue with China
- ‘The lines are open. Unfortunately the military lines aren’t,’ National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says
- Washington had not yet formally asked Beijing to schedule a call between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping
While US-China diplomatic channels have remained open since a Chinese balloon entered US airspace in late January, one of the most important channels – military-to-military communication – remains cut off, a senior US security official said on Friday.
“The lines are open,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told White House reporters. “Unfortunately the military lines aren’t open, and that’s really what we would like to see amended.”
Kirby said that the Chinese had blocked military-to-military dialogue since then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August.
Washington had not yet formally asked Beijing to schedule a call between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kirby said, adding that Biden would raise human rights during the call but had no preconditions.
“That doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen, that the president … doesn’t want to talk to President Xi,” Kirby said of the call. “He will.”
Kirby added that the president “never fails” to raise human rights issues and that he believes the US must lead with its values, particularly in foreign policy.