Secretary of Defense James Mattis held a previously canceled meeting with his Chinese counterpart amid “provocative” U. S. military missions in the South China Sea, The…
Secretary of Defense James Mattis held a previously canceled meeting with his Chinese counterpart amid “provocative” U. S. military missions in the South China Sea, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Mattis sat down with Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe for an hour and a half Thursday to ease tensions between the U. S. and China, even inviting Wei to the states for further talks, the NYT reports .
Mattis has assured that the U. S. and China will “sort this out,” but military disputes in the South China Sea marred meetings between the two defense secretaries earlier in Mattis’s current trip to Asia, according to Reuters, and are becoming increasingly frequent and confrontational.
Reports of Mattis’s re-scheduled meeting, which was canceled Sept. 30, with Wei coincide with a Thursday report that American B-52 bombers passed over the contested waters of the South China Sea Tuesday.
South China Sea claims E C Reissue – Map showing the overlapping claims by country on the South China Sea. Reuters
Two B-52 Stratofortress bombers “participated in a routine training mission in the vicinity of the South China Sea” flying from Guam over Chinese occupied islands in the South China Sea’s international waters Tuesday, according to Air Force officials.
