Blinken: China has not yet agreed to re-establish a channel of direct contact with the U.S. military

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he raised the issue of restoring direct channels of communication between the military in Beijing, but Beijing has not yet agreed to it.

“With regard to channels of communication between the military, this is an issue that I have raised repeatedly during this visit. I believe that having such channels is vital, and this is underscored by the recent incidents in airspace and at sea. So far, China has not agreed to move in that direction,” Blinken said at a news conference following his visit to Beijing.

The United States has failed to make a breakthrough on restoring direct military-to-military contact with China, but Washington continues to work on it.

He was asked whether Chinese President Xi Jinping responded “categorically no” to Washington’s desire to resume that channel of communication. “No. The work is ongoing,” Blinken said.

“It should be done based on the interests of both our countries, and it’s not just about restoring intergovernmental contacts, which we’ve already done, starting with this trip. I think visits by a number of my colleagues will follow, and then Chinese officials will come to the United States. A really important aspect is direct military-to-military contact. We don’t have an agreement on that yet, so we will continue to work on that,” Blinken added.

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