U.S.-PRC DEFENSE CONTACTS AND EXCHANGES IN 2023
The PRC’s refusal to engage in military-to-military communication only sharpened in 2023.
- Executed. The Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff each sent congratulatory letters to the newly-appointed PRC Minister of National Defense, Li Shangfu, and Chairman of the Joint Staff Department, General Liu Zhenli. The United States, as the chair of the dialogue among the five Nuclear Weapons States, organized a working-level experts meeting on June 13-14 in Cairo, which included officials from the U.S. Department of Defense and PRC Ministry of National Defense.
- Refused, Cancelled, or Ignored. As of June 2023, the PRC declined two SECDEF DTL call requests to General Wei Fenghe. The PRC ignored INDOPACOM Commander DTL call requests to the PLA STC, Northern Theater Command (NTC), and Eastern Theater Command (ETC) commanders. The PRC similarly ignored DoD requests to hold recurring exchanges including DPCTs, MMCA talks, and CCWG. The PRC defense attaché in the United States refused multiple invitations to engage with the DASD for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia.
Of note, in April 2023, the PLA requested U.S. assistance in evacuation of PRC diplomats from Khartoum, Sudan amidst ongoing fighting. In response, DoD provided evacuation routes from Khartoum to the Port of Sudan to the PRC and multiple other countries that had requested U.S. assistance.
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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China
