China takes hard line on Taiwan as defense talks with US resume

The Pentagon’s top China official, Michael Chase, concluded two days of talks Tuesday with Chinese Maj. Gen. Song Yanchao, as Taiwan approaches a consequential election day Saturday and tensions in the Indo-Pacific have skyrocketed following Chinese clashes with the Philippines.

Song, China’s deputy director of the Central Military Commission Office for International Military Cooperation, told Chase that Beijing is willing to “develop a sound and stable military-to-military relationship,” according to a readout from from China’s Ministry of Defense.

But Song said the U.S. must take China’s considerations seriously and laid down a hard line on Taiwan, pushing for Washington to stop arming Taipei and supporting its independence.

At the meeting, Song “emphasized that China will not make any concession or compromise on the Taiwan question.”

The talks come after a high-stakes November meeting between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, where the two agreed to restore military communications.

They normalized a relationship that had gone rocky after a Chinese spy balloon flew over the U.S. mainland last February, and China suspended military channels after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) traveled to Taiwan in August 2022.

The Biden-Xi meeting led to Gen. CQ Brown, the chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, holding the first high-level military talks with his counterpart last month since China suspended channels.

The two superpower leaders did not make a major breakthrough, however, leaving Indo-Pacific tensions and Taiwan unresolved. At the San Francisco meeting, Xi reportedly told Biden that China will reunify with Taipei, a commitment he has underscored repeatedly, including during his end of year address.

Read the full report at TheHill.com.