这是美国和中国恢复关系的第一个迹象长期冻结的军事联系美国参谋长联席会议主席小CQ·布朗将军周四与中国国防部长进行了交谈，这是自2022年7月以来两国军方高层领导人之间的首次此类对话。

根据布朗办公室发布的一份声明，布朗通过视频会议与中国人民解放军联合参谋部的刘将军进行了交谈。

两人讨论了各种各样的问题，保持沟通是一个重要的话题，因为在过去的一年半时间里，双方缺乏联系。不安全和不专业的拦截五角大楼称，中国飞机在南中国海上空实施的空中巡逻显著增加。

他的办公室说，布朗“讨论了合作负责任地管理竞争、避免误判、保持开放和直接沟通的重要性”。“布朗将军重申了中国人民解放军参与实质性对话以减少误解可能性的重要性。”

美国国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀(Lloyd Austin)和其他美国高级官员强调，美中两军有必要保持对话，以避免潜在的误判和误解。

在时任众议院议长南希·佩洛西发表声明后，中国中断了与美国的军事接触台湾之行2022年8月，在此之后，中国显著增加了在这个自治岛屿周围的军事活动，中国认为这是一个分离的省份。

参谋长联席会议主席空军上将CQ·布朗参加了2023年11月22日在五角大楼举行的虚拟乌克兰国防联络小组(UDCG)会议。

克里夫·欧文/美联社

美国国防部官员说，周四的通话是美国总统拜登和中国习近平主席会晤的直接结果在上个月的亚太经合组织峰会上他们同意重建军方对军方的接触。

“这是一步，重要的一步，但不是最后一步，这就是为什么我们继续与(中国)就未来的接触进行工作层面的讨论，以确保我们兑现拜登总统和Xi主席在11月达成的共识，”一名高级军事官员在周四的电话会议之前对记者说。

(在上个月的会议上，消息人士最近告诉ABC新闻Xi还向拜登重申，中国打算尝试与台湾统一——这是一个具有深远影响的有争议的目标。)

这位军方官员说，早期的计划要求两国在明年春天恢复此前推迟的定期会晤。

五角大楼强调了它认为缺乏与中国沟通的风险，在10月份公布了自2021年秋季以来与中国战斗机在南中国海和太平洋其他地方进行的180多次互动中的一些视频，他们认为这些互动具有挑衅性和风险。

这位美国高级军事官员说，自那次发布以来，美国军事资产和中国飞机之间没有发生另一次“不安全和不专业”的互动，尽管他们指出，中国继续在其他地方进行美国认为的挑衅，特别是与菲律宾.

在今年早些时候上将被免职后，奥斯汀和中国国防部长之间的任何潜在接触都必须等待中国任命国防部长。

Top US and Chinese military officers resume communication; Pentagon credits Biden-Xi meeting

In the first sign that the U.S. and China are restoringlong frozen military contacts, Gen. CQ Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke Thursday with his Chinese counterpart, in the first such conversation between the two nations' top leaders in uniform since July 2022.

Brown spoke via video-conference with Gen. Liu Zhenli of the People's Liberation Army's joint staff department, according to a statement released by Brown's office.

The men discussed a variety of issues and maintaining lines of communication was a major topic given the lack of contacts over the last year and a half, during which the number ofunsafe and unprofessional interceptscarried out by Chinese aircraft over the South China Sea increased significantly, the Pentagon has said.

Brown "discussed the importance of working together to responsibly manage competition, avoid miscalculations, and maintain open and direct lines of communication," his office said. "Gen. Brown reiterated the importance of the People's Liberation Army engaging in substantive dialogue to reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings."

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other top U.S. officials have stressed the need to maintain dialogue between the U.S. and Chinese militaries to avoid potential miscalculations and misunderstandings.

China broke off military contact with the U.S. following then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi'svisit to Taiwanin August 2022, after which China significantly increased military activity around the self-governing island that China considers to be a breakaway province.

U.S. defense officials said Thursday's call was a direct result of the meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinpingat the APEC summit last monthwhere they agreed to rebuild military-to-military contacts.

"It's one step, an important step, but it's not the last step and that's why we're continuing to have working-level discussions with [China] about future engagements to make sure that we deliver on what President Biden and Chairman Xi agreed to in November," a senior military official told reporters ahead of Thursday's call.

(At the meeting last month,sources recently told ABC News, Xi also reiterated to Biden that China intends to try and reunify with Taiwan -- a controversial goal with far-reaching ramifications.)

The military official said that early plans call for the resumption next spring of previously delayed regular meetings between the two countries.

The Pentagon, underlining what it saw as the risk of a lack of communication with China, in October made public videos of some of the more than 180 interactions since the fall of 2021 with Chinese fighter aircraft over the South China Sea and elsewhere in the Pacific that they characterized as provocative and risky.

Since that release, there has not been another "unsafe and unprofessional" interaction between U.S. military assets and Chinese aircraft, the senior U.S. military official said, though they noted that China has continued what the U.S. considers provocations elsewhere -- particularlywith the Philippines.

Any potential contacts between Austin and a Chinese counterpart will have to await China's naming of a defense minister after Gen. Li Shangfu's removal earlier this year.