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Why US may have ‘sense of urgency’ to improve military ties with China
- Veteran diplomat Henry Kissinger met the Chinese defence chief on Tuesday during a surprise visit to Beijing
- Observer says Washington hopes to resume military dialogue to try to get PLA to cut back activities near Taiwan
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When veteran US diplomat and centenarian Henry Kissinger began a surprise visit to Beijing on Tuesday, China’s defence chief was the first official he met.
The meeting with General Li Shangfu came as military ties between the two nations are strained by geopolitical tensions and sanctions – with Li himself on Washington’s sanctions list.
It also followed rare talks at the Pentagon last week between Xie Feng, China’s ambassador to the US, and Ely Ratner, the US assistant secretary of defence for Indo-Pacific security affairs.
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US diplomatic veteran Henry Kissinger visits Beijing ‘as a friend of China’
US diplomatic veteran Henry Kissinger visits Beijing ‘as a friend of China’
According to Lu Xiang, a researcher on US-China relations at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the US is likely to have a greater sense of urgency than China to resume military-to-military communications.
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Lu said that urgency came from the activities of the People’s Liberation Army near Taiwan, which have intensified since Nancy Pelosi visited the self-ruled island in August last year when she was US House speaker.
Beijing – which claims Taiwan as its own and saw Pelosi’s trip as a violation of its sovereignty – retaliated by cutting off dialogue between military theatre command leaders and working meetings with the US defence ministry.
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Now, nearly every day, the PLA sends warplanes and ships near the island, forcing Taiwan’s military to scramble its aircraft in response.
Most countries do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but many oppose any attempt by Beijing to change the status quo by force.
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