Video call between military chiefs of staff from China, US labeled a success

A recent video call between the chiefs of staff of the Chinese and US militaries yielded "positive and constructive outcomes", China's Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Wu Qian told a news conference in Beijing that during their meeting in San Francisco last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping and United States President Joe Biden had agreed, on the basis of equality and respect, to resume high-level military-to-military communication, China-US Defense Policy Coordination Talks and China-US Military Maritime Consultative Agreement meetings, and to have telephone conversations between theater commanders. 

General Liu Zhenli, Chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, held a video call last week with General Charles Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US military. 

The two sides exchanged candid and in-depth views on implementing the important military-related consensus reached between Xi and Biden in San Francisco and on other issues of common interest, Wu said.

The video call yielded positive and constructive outcomes, he said. 

"We expect the US side to work with us in the same direction and take concrete actions on the basis of equality and respect to promote the sound and steady development of the China-US military-to-military relationship," he said.

The defense authorities of the two countries are engaged in communication and coordination on specific exchange programs, Wu said.