US and Chinese officials met this week at the Pentagon to discuss relations

CNN —

United States and Chinese officials met Monday and Tuesday at the Pentagon to discuss relations between the two countries, the Pentagon announced in a news release on Tuesday, including military-to-military communication and the “importance of operational safety across the Indo-Pacific region.”

The talks, between the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China Dr. Michael Chase and China’s Deputy Director of the Central Military Commission Office for International Military Cooperation Maj. Gen. Song Yanchao, were held this year after two years of cancellations by China. The meetings have been happening since 2005; the last in-person meeting was January 2020 in Beijing.

“It’s an important step … we’re clear eyed, and I would emphasize that these are routine annual talks, or at least that’s how we view them,” a senior defense official said ahead of the calls last week.

The official said China canceled the talks in 2022 following then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, the self-ruled democratic island that China’s ruling Communist Party claims as its own territory, despite never having never controlled it.

“But we would ordinarily expect these to be talks that we would have at this level annually,” the US official added.

Tuesday’s release from the Pentagon said Chase reaffirmed that the US would “continue to fly, sail, and operate safely and responsibly wherever international law allows; and underscored that the U.S. commitment to our allies in the Indo-Pacific and globally remains ironclad.” It also said that Chase reiterated the US’ commitment to the “One China” policy.

A readout published by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV afterward said China was willing to develop healthy and stable