FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Mattis Meets with President Xi and Chinese Minister of Defense
June 27, 2018 (EIRNS)—Today, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis met with Wei Fenghe, China’s Minister of National Defense, and then with President Xi Jinping, for the purpose of building up mutual trust, as was stated explicitly, between the two nations on military relations. Recent disagreements over military activities in the South China Sea, the status of Taiwan, and the United States’ cancellation of Chinese participation in the May RIMPAC (Pacific Rim) naval exercises have heightened concern over the two nations’ strategic relationship.
Mattis invited Commander Wei to visit him at the Pentagon. At their meeting, Wei told Mattis, “China and the U.S. can develop together only when they both agree on no conflicts, no confrontations, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.”
President Xi assured Mattis that China seeks no conflicts, but that it will not permit the loss of even one inch of Chinese territory, which Xi said, was inherited from China’s ancestors.
Mattis thanked Xi. He told reporters that the talks had been “very, very” good. He expressed interest in pursuing respectful cooperation between the two powers. He said, “I am happy to be in China and we are assigning the same high degree of importance to the military relationship.”
In advance of the meetings, China’s Defense spokesman, Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang, explained,
“China attaches great importance to developing military relations with the U.S. and hopes that the U.S. and China can meet each other halfway and work together to make the bilateral military relations an important stabilizing factor for relations between the two countries.”
