Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he believes the Chinese military will resume communications with its American counterparts even though they're "not there yet."
Top Chinese military leaders have repeatedly refused meetings with Austin over much of the calendar year, which has U.S. officials worried about the possibility of an unintended incident or escalation due to a lack of communication between two major military powers. The silent treatment from the People's Liberation Army comes during a longer stretch, about 18 months or so, in which it has engaged in more aggressive and risky maneuvers toward U.S. military personnel.
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"I'm confident that over time, that's going to happen. We're going to meet at some point in time, but we're not there yet," the secretary said at a press conference on Friday in Brussels after meeting with his NATO counterparts.
Austin noted that he hasn't reached out to try and speak with his Chinese counterpart, Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu, since the two briefly spoke at the Shangri-La Summit earlier this month. Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the two leaders "shook hands, but did not have a substantive exchange," while the Chinese declined a U.S. invitation for a meeting between Li and Austin.
"I was in Singapore a week and a half ago," Austin noted on Friday. "I've been on the road quite a bit, and so I've not reached out since, but again, the door is open. My phone line is open, and so, you can pick up the phone and call at any time, and we will continue to work to make sure that we have open lines of communication."
He also repeated a now-frequent warning, "You've heard me say a number of times I think it's important that countries with significant military capacity and capabilities have the means to talk to each other so that we can manage potential crises and make sure that things aren't allowed to unnecessarily spiraled out of control."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be traveling to Beijing in the coming days, a trip that had originally been scheduled for February but was postponed following the Chinese spy balloon incident at that time. He, too, will be trying to reduce the risk of miscalculations or escalations.
“This is a really critical series of engagements ... that we, again, hope will, at a minimum, reduce the risk of miscalculation so that we do not veer into potential conflict,” Assistant Secretary Daniel Kritenbrink, who leads the State Department’s East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau, told reporters Wednesday. “I think it’s incredibly serious.”
The trip was unveiled just days after the administration acknowledged that the Chinese government has established an intelligence outpost in Cuba that dates back to at least 2019.
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“As the competition continues, the PRC will take provocative steps — from the Taiwan Strait to Cuba — and we will push back,” said Kurt Campbell, the White House National Security Council’s coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs. “But intense competition requires intense diplomacy if we’re going to manage tensions. That is the only way to clear up misperceptions, to signal, to communicate, and to work together where and when our interests align.”
In the weeks since the Chinese spy balloon traversed the continental United States, including flying over sensitive military locations, the Chinese military has engaged in a series of “dangerous incidents” involving the harassment of U.S. ships and planes in the Indo-Pacific region.