Singapore ¨C The U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs on Friday emphasized the importance of maintaining open lines of communication in their first face-to-face talks in 18 months, as the two sides seek to rebuild frayed military-to-military ties and manage the rival nations¡¯ increasingly tense relationship.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Adm. Dong Jun met for 75 minutes in Singapore ahead of the formal kickoff of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security conference, with the two sides agreeing to resume telephone conversations between theater commanders in the coming months.
Austin also welcomed plans to convene a crisis-communications working group by the end of the year.
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