On the 21st, the top uniformed members of the U.S. military and the senior officials of the Chinese military held a meeting in the form of a video conference. This follows the agreement to resume dialogue at the U.S.-China summit in November, and this is the first meeting at this level since July last year.
The U.S. military announced on the 21st that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Brown, the head of the uniformed group, and Chief of Staff Liu Zhengli of the Chinese Armed Forces' Joint Chiefs of Staff held a videoconference meeting.
During the meeting, Brown discussed the importance of responsibly managing competition between the United States and China, and emphasized the importance of dialogue between commanders in charge of the Pacific region.
On the other hand, according to the Chinese Ministry of Defense, Chief of Staff Liu said that "we will not tolerate any interference from the outside in China's internal affairs" regarding Taiwan, and that "we should respect China's territorial sovereignty and refrain from words and actions" regarding the South China Sea.
At the November summit, the U.S. and China agreed to resume high-level military dialogue that had been interrupted since then-House Speaker Pelosi visited Taiwan in August last year, and according to the U.S. Department of Defense, this is the first time since July last year that this level of talks has taken place.
However, the situation in which the United States and China continue to restrain each other over the South China Sea and other issues, and it is still unclear whether the talks will lead to a reduction in tensions.