Two days ago, the 17th Sino-US Defense Ministry Working Meeting was held in Washington, D.C.
The last time Chinese and US military officials met offline was in January 2020. Although it was the first meeting after four years, the signal sent by this meeting may not be too friendly.
During the meeting, the Chinese side expressed its demands on the United States in three main aspects:
The first is the Taiwan Strait issue, which requires the United States to abide by the one-China principle and implement the commitments made by Biden before, specifically, to stop arming Taiwan and oppose Taiwan's "independence";
The second issue is the South China Sea issue, which requires the United States to reduce its military deployment and provocative actions in the South China Sea, especially to provide support for the aggression and provocation of certain countries, which China absolutely does not tolerate. The individual country here, I believe it doesn't need to be explained, is the Philippines;
Third, the US military has unilaterally provoked it, and China calls on the US to fully understand the root cause of the maritime and air security problems, strictly restrain the frontline troops, and stop hyping up. This is a requirement made in response to the situation in which US warships and military planes frequently approach the waters of the mainland and approach provocation and reconnaissance.
So how did we talk about these three issues with the United States?
The announcement given by the Ministry of Defense did not mention the response of the United States, which is actually a sign of the collapse of the talks. Later, I also checked the statement of the US Department of Defense, and sure enough, it was not true.
The same three points.
With regard to the Taiwan Strait, the United States is still the same rhetoric, "continuing to be committed to the long-standing one-China policy", but the "one-China principle" in the mouth of the United States is not at all the same concept as our proposition, and the US side said that the "one-China principle" is guided by the "Taiwan Relations Act," the "Three Sino-US Joint Communiques," and the six guarantees, and this description is essentially a support for "Taiwan independence" and does not need to be explained.
With regard to the South China Sea, the United States stressed that its commitment to the Indo-Pacific region and global allies is unwavering, and that in view of the frequent conflicts between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, the United States hopes that all parties will respect "freedom of navigation on the high seas as guaranteed by international law."
Regarding reconnaissance and provocation in China's waters, the US side said that in the coming period, the United States will continue to conduct safe and responsible flights, navigation, and other military operations wherever international law allows.
Obviously, on the three issues that we are most concerned about, the United States has taken a rather arrogant attitude and has maintained its hegemonic style as always.
In fact, it will not surprise us that the United States will adopt this attitude, but after this Sino-US meeting, the United States may still have a hidden thought: Something may happen in the direction of the Taiwan Strait.
Looking back at the past few high-level contacts between China and the United States, we will find a pattern, that is, whenever the United States escalates its provocative behavior after high-level contacts, and its motive is not difficult to understand, which is nothing more than taking advantage of the slightly relaxed atmosphere after the Sino-US contacts to seek more political benefits. At this time, the United States is inviting the Chinese military to the United States for face-to-face talks, probably to build a guardrail in advance for the next incident in the Taiwan Strait. This is a consistent trick of the United States, and although it is old-fashioned, we have no choice but to guard against it.