Bloomberg: Disappearance Of Chinese Defence Minister Openning 'Window' For Military Talks With US
- 18.09.2023, 11:33
Biden has sent four cabinet officials to Beijing.
In the summer, Beijing offered Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin only one handshake with China's sanctioned defence minister Li Shanfu at a top military forum. Now Li's departure from the public eye may help reset top-level military talks between the superpowers.
China's defence chief is reportedly under investigation as he has not been seen in public since August 29 and has been missing meetings, fuelling rumours that he is about to be replaced. That would remove one major obstacle to military talks with the US after Beijing made their resumption contingent on the lifting of Li's sanctions, Bloomberg writes.
US officials have intelligence information that suggests the 65-year-old Li has already been removed from his post, said a US official familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named while discussing the sensitive issue. Neither Beijing nor Chinese state media provided information on Li's status.
China's relations with the US have stabilised over the past few months. President Joe Biden has sent four Cabinet officials to Beijing to improve lines of communication as the two powers argue over everything ranging from Taiwan to human rights issues and trade restrictions.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to travel to San Francisco to meet with Biden in November. According to people familiar with China's preparations for that meeting, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met over the weekend to discuss the potential meeting.
With tensions still running high, Li's ouster would be no guarantee that Beijing would resume the military talks it suspended in August 2022 - before Li became minister. That action was a response to the visit of then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosito Taiwan, a self-governing island that China considers its territory.
The resumption of high-level military talks comes amid growing fears that tensions between the US and China in the South China Sea or around Taiwan could escalate into a wider conflict that would be catastrophic for the region and the global economy.
Since Li came to power, the resumption of such talks has stalled as China has described sanctions as an obstacle that "must be removed before any exchange and co-operation is possible". In May, the US said it had no plans to lift restrictions on the defence secretary, apparently retracting Biden's earlier comment that such a move was "under negotiation".
China now appears to have set the stage for resuming high-level talks, even if that was not the intention. This saves Biden from having to make the awkward choice between military stability and giving in to the demands of his main rival, Beijing.
Any ouster of Li, whose primary role is that of chief diplomat for the Chinese military, raises other questions about tensions within the Chinese government. Li would be the second minister to be abruptly removed from his post less than a year after the start of Xi Jinping's third term, following the sudden ouster of then-Foreign Minister Qin Gang in July. Two missile force generals were also purged this summer without explanation.
Although there is no indication that the Chinese leader's rule is facing any major problems, such moves have raised concerns among investors and governments.
The Disappearance of China's Defence Minister Li Shanfu
Li Shanfu, 65, was appointed defence minister in March this year. He is one of five members of the State Council, senior officials that Xi appointed this year to form China's top cabinet.
The US government believes Chinese Defence Minister Li Shanfu has come under investigation, another sign of instability among top members of the country's military and foreign policy leadership.