China, US should avoid conflict, defense chief says

Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun met on Monday with a visiting United States congressional delegation led by Adam Smith, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, according to a readout from China's Ministry of National Defense.

Noting the recent phone call between the presidents of China and the US, Dong expressed hope that the congressional members would view China-US relations through a win-win rather than zero-sum lens.

He called on the House Armed Services Committee to use its influence on US defense strategy and foreign policy to "remove distractions and constraints", take constructive and practical steps, and help create conditions for improving military-to-military ties, promoting the two countries moving toward each other.

As two major countries with global influence, Dong said, China and the US should uphold the bottom line of no conflict and no confrontation. In particular, he called for correcting strategic cognition in military strategy to prevent misunderstandings and miscalculations, thereby avoiding serious challenges to bilateral ties and global stability.

The defense chief said China is committed to the path of peaceful development. The Chinese military, he added, is willing to build with the US military a relationship characterized by equality and respect, peaceful coexistence, and stable, positive development, while firmly safeguarding China's sovereignty, security, and development interests.

Dong called on both sides to jointly explore the way of peaceful coexistence, keep communication channels open between the two militaries, and take concrete actions to advance the stable, healthy, and sustainable development of China-US relations and military-to-military ties.