Chinese, US militaries had constructive meeting in Hawaii last week, Chinese Navy says
BEIJING, June 1 (Reuters) – China and the United States held “candid and constructive” exchanges on air and maritime security in Hawaii last week and agreed that improving communication could reduce miscalculations and increase professionalism, the Chinese Navy said.
In the statement made late on Monday, it was stated that representatives from the armies of both sides attended the meeting on May 28-29.
A separate statement from U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said it hosted representatives from the People’s Liberation Army in Honolulu for discussions focused on reducing the risk of unsafe and unprofessional encounters.
The meeting follows last month’s high-profile summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump and may ease concerns about a lack of communication following the absence of senior Chinese military officials at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional defense forum, in Singapore over the weekend.
At a summit last month, Xi and Trump agreed to maintain a “constructive strategic stability relationship” that analysts said could set practical limits on how the two powers interact.
“This common strategic framework shifts the bilateral dynamic beyond reactive crisis management towards more deliberate, forward-looking stability building,” said Wang Dong, professor of international studies at Peking University.
At the Shangri-La Dialogue, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned about China’s historic military buildup and called on Asian countries to increase defense spending and capabilities.
But he also said relations between the United States and China were better than they have been in many years, and unlike his speech at the forum last year, he did not mention Taiwan, suggesting Washington had adopted a measured tone on the controversial issue.
China regards democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never shied away from using force against the island. The United States is required by law to arm Taipei, which Beijing has long opposed.
In the statement made by the Chinese Navy, in addition to emphasizing the importance of communication, it was stated that China “absolutely opposes any actions that undermine China’s sovereignty and security.”
(Reporting by Shi Bu, Xiuhao Chen and Liz Lee; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Edwina Gibbs)
