China says US must lift sanction if wants military talks

TEHRAN, (MNA) – Beijing says the Joe Biden administration needs to lift sanctions against China if it wants high level communications between the two world powers' armed forces.

The spokesman for China’s Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said on Wednesday that Washington "knows the reason for difficulties in its military-to-military relations with China. It actually imposed unilateral sanctions on China.”

“Such obstacles should be removed before any exchange and cooperation could take place between the two countries," Liu said.

It was not clear which sanctions Liu was referring to, but Chinese officials have previously pointed to sanctions against Chinese Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu for their refusal to engage with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Li has been the target of US sanctions since 2018 over his alleged involvement in the purchase of Russian advanced weapons.

In a rare trip to Beijing earlier this month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on President Xi Jinping to set up a crisis communications line between the two countries. Xi, however, rejected the offer.

Back in late May, China also refused a meeting between the two countries' defense chiefs.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has already reaffirmed that the US needs to “take concrete actions … stabilize the relationship from further deterioration and bring it back to the track of healthy and stable development."

Biden administration officials say setting up direct lines of communication between the two sides are necessary to cut through crises and tamp down high tensions before they spiral into conflict.

In an incident in February, Chinese officials held back from answering a call from Austin in the wake of the US shooting down a Chinese balloon.

The secretary was rejected again this month when China’s defense minister refused to meet with him at a defense summit in Singapore.

Over the past few months, the two sides have repeatedly clashed publicly over air and naval confrontations in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.