China is open to good military-to-military relations with the U.S. but the U.S. should expect no compromise on the Taiwan question from Beijing. “We have repeatedly stressed that China has a principle in dealing with relations with the U.S. military. The principle is that our national sovereignty, dignity and core interests can’t be jeopardized, which is especially applicable when it comes to the Taiwan question—there is no room for compromise in our position and the U.S. shall not have any illusion about that,” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Senior Colonel Wu Qian said during the ministry’s monthly press conference yesterday.
Wu said that one of the achievements of the Biden-Xi Jinping virtual summit on Nov. 16 was that it had pointed out the development direction for military-to-military relations and injected new momentum into such ties. “The military ties are important parts of the overall bilateral relations,” he said. “Maintaining good, stable military-to-military relations is in the interest of both nations and is the shared hope of the international community.”
“President Xi has emphasized that China and the U.S. must find the right way of dealing with each other and this is the most important matter in the global system for the coming 50 years,” he continued. “The Chinese military is willing to work with the U.S. to take practical steps to honor the presidents’ meeting; uphold the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation; adopt farsighted and practical perspectives; strengthen communication, exchange and cooperation; and appropriately handle our divergences so that we can improve the bilateral military relations to benefit the peoples of both countries and the rest of the world.”
However, the U.S. side has made a lot of irresponsible statements and provocative acts in terms of the Taiwan question, the South China Sea and its close reconnaissance by air and naval forces, prompting the Chinese military to respond through firm, targeted actions, Wu said, reported China Military Online.
