US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has announced an upcoming visit by his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe amid heightened tensions with China.
Mattis said on Saturday that General Wei would visit Washington next week to continue their unfinished past “discussions”.
“I have met with my counterpart in Beijing a month ago, I have met with him again in Singapore a week ago. He is coming to Washington next week to continue our discussions,” Mattis said at a Middle East security conference in Bahrain, in response to a question about the escalation of tensions between the two countries in recent months.
Mattis downplayed the tensions with China, describing the escalation as “competition”. “I would just point out that (our) strategic competition does not imply hostility,” Mattis explained.
Earlier this week two US warships followed by Chinese navy vessels sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait in the South China Sea.
The “discussions”…