By Li Chun
Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe, who was attending the 9th ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) in Cambodia, held talks with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on November 22, 2022. This is the first face-to-face talk between the two defense ministers after the meeting between the Chinese and US heads of state in Bali.
On November 14, Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with US President Joe Biden in Bali, Indonesia, indicating the development direction for China-US relations in the near future.
According to an expert committed to studying China-US military relations, the two heads of state have reached an important consensus during the meeting and tasked the working teams of the two countries to follow up and implement the important consensus reached in a timely manner and take concrete actions to push the China-US relations back to the track of normal and stable development. "Decoupling", "containment" and "confrontation" will be never in the interests of either side.
A major problem facing China-US relations is that communication channels in many fields have basically been at a standstill or interrupted. It has been noted that the dialogue between China and the US in fields such as economy and trade has been resumed shortly after the two heads of state held the "in-depth, candid and constructive" talks.
The face-to-face talk between the defense ministers of the two countries is strategic communication to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state in the field of defense and security.
During the Shangri-La Dialogue held in June 2022, General Wei Fenghe held talks with his counterpart Lloyd Austin. The expert interviewed believed that compared with the exchanges at the Shangri-La Dialogue, this bilateral dialogue was more pragmatic in content, as manifested by both sides believing that the two militaries should strengthen crisis management and control and strive to safeguard regional security and stability.
"Both sides do not want to see the China-US conflicts and confrontation, especially when the military tension between the two countries is growing increasingly evident." The expert said that after reaching a consensus on preventing conflicts and confrontation, the Chinese and American militaries may carry out further communications and exchanges at the working level, provided that "there are no twists and turns emerging in the trend".
The expert also pointed out that the US should translate its commitments into concrete actions, rather than just talking the talk. As General Wei Fenghe said in his talks on November 22, the responsibility for the current situation facing China-US relations lies with the US side instead of the Chinese side. China has attached great significance to the development of bilateral military relations, and the US must respect China's core interests first. It is hoped that the US side will live up to its promises, implementing the consensus reached by the two heads of state, and adopt a rational and pragmatic policy towards China, in an effort to push the China-US relations back to the track of sound and stable development.
The expert also stated that the US was the main instigator of the difficulties facing the bilateral relations, with multiple problems provoked by the US side which have infringed on China's core interests, and China would never allow such infringement. "If the US side can restrain itself in this respect, China-US relations may return to the normal track."
Editor's note: Originally published on chinanews.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
