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Heng Sinith, Associated Press Heng Sinith, Associated Press
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Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said the latest meeting of defense chiefs from the United States and China in Cambodia shows “an opening of lines of communication.”
Watch the briefing in the player above.
It was the second face-to-face meeting in six months between U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin II and Gen. Wei Fenghe, China’s minister of national defense.
It came just over a week after a meeting in Indonesia between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping which was widely seen as an effort to ease tensions between the two superpowers over trade and China’s claim to Taiwan.
Austin and Wei are in Siem Reap, Cambodia, attending a meeting of defense ministers from the Association of Southeast Asia Nations and other major countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
WATCH: Biden meets with China’s Xi to discuss Taiwan, Ukraine and ‘red lines’
Singh also said the U.S. is encouraging “de-escalation” when it comes to Turkey hinting about a possible new ground offensive in Syria against Kurdish militants.
This comes after Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said fresh Turkish airstrikes on Tuesday struck a base that the group shares with the U.S.-led coalition in the fight against the Islamic State group.
The base is just outside the town of Qamishli, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Turkish border. Two SDF fighters were killed and three were wounded, the group said.
Turkey carried out airstrikes on suspected Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria and Iraq over the weekend, in retaliation for a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul that Ankara blames on the militant groups. The groups have denied involvement in the bombing.
The airstrikes also hit several Syrian army positions in three provinces along the border with Turkey, and killed and wounded a number of Syrian soldiers, Syrian officials said.
By Joe McDonald, Associated Press
By Ken Moritsugu, Associated Press
By Aamer Madhani, Colleen Long, Associated Press
Heng Sinith, Associated Press Heng Sinith, Associated Press
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