The United States and China have agreed to set up military-to-military channels to “deconflict and deescalate any problems” following the “historic” meeting between the countries’ leaders, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, according to the US defence secretary.In a statement on X on Saturday, Pete Hegseth said he and his Chinese counterpart, Minister of National Defence Dong Jun, made the decision following a phone call the night before.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThere was no immediate comment from Beijing.Hegseth said the pair, who also met in Malaysia following the Trump-Xi summit in South Korea, “agree that peace, stability, and good relations are the best part for our two great and strong countries”.“Admiral Dong and I also agreed that we should set up military-to-military channels to deconflict and deescalate any problems that arise,” he added.Experts have long advocated direct military contacts between the two superpowers, whose navies operate extensively in the Asia Pacific, saying the hotlines were the best way to avoid unintentional escalation.However, such contacts have remained irregular as tensions between the two nations ebb and rise.The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a US-based think tank, said in May that most of the more than 90 communications channels between the US and Chinese governments went dormant during Trump’s first term as US president, from 2017 to 2021.China went on to cut the few links with the US military in 2022, under the administration of the US’s then-president, Joe Biden, when the then-speaker …
