Beijing: China and the U.S. discussed the rapidly evolving situation in Afghanistan during their first round of military-level talks after President Joe Biden came to power in January this year, a media report said on Saturday.
Deputy director for the People’s Liberation Army Office for International Military Cooperation Major General Huang Xueping held a video conference with his U.S. counterpart Michael Chase last week.
“Afghanistan crisis is one of the most urgent issues of risk management that needs to be discussed … Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi raised this issue in the Alaska talks [earlier this year], but his American counterpart ignored it,” the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted an official of the Chinese military as saying.
The U.S. and China held their first high-level talks in March in Alaska after Mr. Biden assumed power, where Wang and top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi exchanged barbs with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
“The Chinese military has maintained a middle-level military-to-military communication channel via the defence attache in the U.S. embassy in Beijing, and [last week’s call] is the first time senior officers resumed talks,” the Chinese official said.
China had hoped to exchange intelligence about Afghanistan when Wang and China’s foreign policy chief Yang met U.S. Secretary of State Blinken in Alaska in March because Beijing had realised how complicated and risky the situation would become if the U.S. pulled out all its troops from Afghanistan, the report said.
“If the U.S. and China started talks about Afghanistan risk assessment, it would not have done so much damage to both countries. China evacuated almost all their nationals three months ago,” the report quoted the Chinese military official as saying.