US-China Military Talks Aim to Ease Tensions with Covid-19 Prevention Focus

South China Morning Post

12 November 2020

China and US armed forces kicked off three days of discussion on control of the coronavirus pandemic, humanitarian aid and disaster prevention on Wednesday, in a rare glimpse of cooperation amid rising tensions between the world’s two biggest military powers. According to a short statement from the Chinese defence ministry, discussions will include Covid-19 prevention and control, a cooperative response to floods and typhoons, and civil-military cooperation. Meetings will be held via video conference, with the Chinese side in Nanjing, capital of the eastern province of Jiangsu, and the US team in Hawaii. The inclusion of Covid-19 in the discussions marked a change after the Trump administration’s criticism of China throughout the pandemic, according to Dr Collin Koh, a Research Fellow from RSIS. “Though this event isn’t novel, it shows both militaries’ desire to keep political tensions under a lid and prevent undesirable spillovers into the military domain.”

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Last updated on 13/11/2020