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Lloyd Austin and Dong Jun held wide-ranging discussions on the South China Sea, Taiwan, North Korea and Ukraine.
United States Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese language counterpart Dong Jun have held their first substantive talks in almost 18 months as the 2 international locations work to revive army ties.
The 2 spoke by way of videoconference on Tuesday, the Pentagon stated in a press release.
It stated Austin “underscored the significance of respecting freedom of navigation within the excessive seas assured below worldwide legislation, significantly within the South China Sea”.
The escalating diplomatic dispute and up to date incidents alongside the disputed coast between China and US treaty ally the Philippines have turned the strategically necessary South China Sea into a possible flashpoint between Washington and Beijing.
China claims virtually the whole sea, whereas Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam declare areas round their coasts.
A world court docket dominated in 2016 that China's nine-dash line, which Beijing claims, is baseless.
“The US facet ought to acknowledge China's agency place, respect China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and pursuits within the South China Sea, and safeguard regional peace,” Dong was quoted as saying in a press release by China's Protection Ministry. Sensible motion have to be taken.”
He additionally warned the US over the democratic island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims, stressing that it’s “the core of China's core pursuits”.
Austin's final important dialog with China's protection minister was in November 2022 when he met Wei Fenghe in Cambodia.
Wei was then changed by Li Shangfu, who shook arms and spoke briefly to Austin at a safety convention in Singapore final June however skipped the formal assembly. Lee, who was topic to US sanctions, disappeared from the scene shortly afterwards and was fired in October. Dong was appointed in December.
Methods to 'get alongside'
The US and China are working to restore a relationship that had change into more and more bitter over points starting from Taiwan to the South China Sea, in addition to commerce and human rights.
US President Joe Biden met Chinese language President Xi Jinping in California final November, the place they agreed to stabilize the connection and resume army ties, following then-US Home of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's go to to Taiwan. have been stopped in consequence.
America's prime army basic later held discussions along with his Chinese language counterpart and this month, US and Chinese language army officers met in Hawaii to debate methods for each international locations to function safely.
China and the US ought to discover methods to “dwell collectively” and “steadily improve mutual belief” by constructing “non-conflict, non-confrontational”, pragmatic and cooperative relations between their militaries, Dong stated in his dialog with Austin. Was quoted. ,
“The army sphere is necessary to stabilize the event of relations and stop main crises from occurring,” he stated.
Austin additionally harassed the necessity to preserve open traces of communication to scale back the danger of potential flare-ups or to take care of any mishaps.
“Secretary Austin harassed the significance of continuous open traces of military-to-military communication between america and the PRC,” the Pentagon stated, utilizing the acronym of the Individuals's Republic of China.
The Pentagon stated the 2 males additionally mentioned points together with Ukraine and Russia's struggle in North Korea.