Fighter jet attached to an aviation brigade under the Chinese PLA Southern Theater Command speeds up during a round-the-clock flight training exercise on August 7, 2024. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Hou Kaiwen)
The theater commanders of the Chinese and US militaries on Tuesday had a video teleconference, marking the resumption of all military communication mechanisms agreed by the heads of state of the two countries at the San Francisco meeting in November 2023.
According to the consensus reached by the heads of state of China and the US at the San Francisco meeting, Wu Ya'nan, commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, and Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, on Tuesday held a teleconference in which they exchanged views on issues of mutual concern, China's Ministry of National Defense said in a press release on Tuesday.
The US Department of Defense is also sending a delegation to the upcoming Beijing Xiangshan Forum, scheduled to take place from September 12 to 14 in Beijing.
The video teleconference between the theater commanders on Tuesday marked the resumption of all four military communication mechanisms agreed by the Chinese and US presidents during the San Francisco meeting.
The high-level communication between the two militaries took place on May 31 when Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun met with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, the 17th China-US Defense Policy Coordination Talks took place in January in Washington, DC, and a China-US Military Maritime Consultative Agreement work group meeting took place in April in Hawaii.
This is a positive signal showing that the two countries are boosting mutual understanding and managing their differences in the military field to avoid accidents that benefit the interests of neither, a Chinese military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Tuesday.
While the Chinese press release did not provide more details about the talks, the US Indo-Pacific Command released a readout saying that Paparo urged the PLA to "reconsider its use of dangerous, coercive, and potentially escalatory tactics in the South China Sea and beyond."
Zhang Junshe, another Chinese military expert, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the US is using false narratives to accuse the PLA's rightful countermeasures as dangerous, and ignores the fact that the current tensions in the South China Sea stem from the Philippines' provocations.
The US should not on the one hand expect to manage differences through talks, then on the other hand incite the Philippines and other allies to stir up troubles, experts said.
