US, China Agree to Strengthen Military Communication to Reduce Risks
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MENAFNThe understanding was reached during the annual Crisis Communications and Prevention Working Group meeting, held in Washington, DC, on Monday and Tuesday.
Cynthia "Xanthi" Carras, the Pentagon's principal director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia, represented the US, while China was represented by Senior Col. Wang Wei, deputy director of the People's Liberation Army’s (PLA) office of international military cooperation.
During the discussions, Carras and Wang “agreed on the importance of advancing practical communication measures to reduce the risks between the United States and China,” according to a statement released Wednesday.
The meeting took place ahead of US President Donald Trump's planned visit to China later this month for a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.
The Pentagon said participants also explored “additional channels to promote effective crisis management and ways to expediently and effectively communicate.”
The US Department of Defense added that it “will continue to advance discussions with the PLA on key defense issues in the coming months,” while no official account of the meeting was released by the Chinese side.
The discussions followed a September summit in Washington between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump, after which China's Foreign Ministry announced that both sides had reached “eight deliverables and understandings.”
Among the commitments, the Chinese and US militaries “agree to conclude a memorandum of understanding on crisis communication and prevention as soon as possible, and continue their cooperation to search for the remains of missing U.S. service members in China,” the ministry said.
The two-day gathering between Carras and Wang in Washington marked the first meeting of its kind since the Sept. 24 summit.
Earlier, in September, Chinese Gen. Yang Zhibin, commander of the PLA Eastern Theatre Command, met US Adm. Samuel Paparo at the Indo-Pacific chiefs of defense conference in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was their first meeting in two years.
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