BEIJING โค- A U.S. lawmaker expressedโฃ concern Tuesday that the United States and china areโค “talking past each other” on critical issues, despite recentโค resumed military dialog and high-level meetings in Beijing. The assessment comes โamid ongoing tensions โฃin the South China Sea and over Taiwan, and as both nations โคseek to stabilize a complex relationship.
Representative Mike โSmith (R-MN), speaking to reporters in Beijing, highlightedโฃ the increasing frequencyโ of close encounters between U.S. and Chinese military โคaircraft as evidence of the communication gap. “We’ve seen this with our ships and ourโค planes, their ships, their planes, coming entirely too close to one another,” Smith said. “At the โคheight of the Cold War, we had regular conversations, regular treaties with the Soviet Union.” In October 2023, the U.S. military reported a Chinese โขfighter jet came within โข10 feet of an American bomber over the South China Sea.
The concerns voiced by smith follow meetings with Chinese Defense Minister Dong โJun and Vice Premier Heโข Lifeng,after talks with Premier โคLi Qiang on Sunday. The visit byโค Smithโค and a bipartisanโฃ delegationโค – โincluding Michaelโ Baumgartner (R), Roโ Khanna (D), and chrissy Houlahan (D) -โ aims to re-establishโข lines of communication that were largely severed following then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022, a move that angered Beijing, which views Taiwan โas a breakaway province.
Military-to-military communications โคbetween theโข U.S.and China wereโ restoredโข in November 2023 following a meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe โฃBiden. โขHowever, Smith indicatedโ the extent of ongoing dialogueโฃ remains unclear. He emphasized the potential for progress through โdirect engagement, โขstating, “Many things that seemed intractable and impossible -โฃ once you actually start talking fromโค the standpoint of ‘Let’s try and resolve this’โ – it is unbelievable what โyou can accomplish.”
The delegation is scheduled to remain in China until Thursday.Meanwhile, โformerโฃ President โฃDonald Trump announced โplans to meet with xi Jinping โคat a regional summit in South Korea in late October and to visit China โin the “early part of next โyear,” following a phone call between the twoโค leaders on Friday. The renewed diplomatic โefforts signal a mutual desire to manage theโ relationship, butโ the โchallenge of bridging essential disagreementsโ remains notable.