« To be honest, we have many difficult issues where we will not necessarily have the same perspectives, ” said Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Pentagon’s top general and his Chinese counterpart have signed a new agreement aimed at improving communication in times of crisis, a step that brings Beijing and Washington closer together as the two nations grapple with what to do about North Korea and its efforts to build an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Fang Fenghui of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army signed the deal at the Chinese military headquarters in Beijing at the outset of a three-day visit by Dunford. The agreement establishes what the Pentagon called the Joint Staff Dialogue Mechanism, in which a three-star officer on Dunford’s staff, Army Lt. Gen. Richard D. Clarke, will communicate regularly with a Chinese counterpart.
Chinese President Xi Jinping described relations with the United States as strained last month, when Washington asked Beijing to do more to pressure North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons programs. But there have been some signs of improvement in recent days, including China’s decision to ban North Korean iron ore, iron, lead and coal as part of a new United Nations sanctions package against Pyongyang.
China and the United States appear to remain far apart on other issues, including a U. S. plan to deploy a missile-defense system known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) to South Korea and China’s efforts to expand its territorial claims in the South China Sea. China also warned the Trump administration last month not to start a trade war with Beijing and split up the coalition countering North Korea.
Dunford, speaking in China, acknowledged there are a number of challenges.
“To be honest, we have many difficult issues where we will not necessarily have the same perspectives, ” Dunford said according to a Pentagon news account .
