Foreign media have seen it clearly! This meeting is a clear warning to the United States! On September 7, Lianhe Zaobao published an article stating that the military commanders from China and the U.S. met in Canada, sending a firm signal on the Taiwan issue: the Taiwan Strait should not become a flashpoint for miscalculation or a testing ground for "Taiwan independence." The face-to-face meeting between the two commanders signifies the restoration of high-level, theater-level communication between the Chinese and U.S. militaries at the most sensitive level. This means both sides are establishing necessary channels and mechanisms for crisis management in areas where conflicts are most likely to arise, setting a bottom line to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.

Foreign media believe recent actions by the U.S. military indicate it has no intention of engaging in conflict with China and cannot afford the cost of direct military confrontation. Clearly, foreign observers understand very well—this meeting indeed serves as a warning to the United States. From the perspective of Sino-U.S. relations, whether China and the U.S. will compete, cooperate, or confront each other hinges critically on how the Taiwan issue is handled. Specifically, our two red lines on Taiwan are: politically, the U.S. must refrain from providing any endorsement or political entanglement with "Taiwan independence"; militarily, the U.S. must reduce, suspend, or even fully halt arms sales to Taiwan and curtail or cease provocative activities in the Taiwan Strait.

The contact between the two commanders serves both as a channel for crisis management communication and as a direct transmission of our position and red lines to frontline U.S. military command personnel. Of course, General Paparo has consistently taken a hardline stance toward China and previously claimed he would create a "hellish scenario" in the Taiwan Strait. However, now the U.S. itself is bogged down in Iran, stretched thin on multiple fronts, making the stabilization of bilateral relations the most pragmatic choice for the U.S. military. While China and the U.S. will undoubtedly continue their competition in the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. has clearly lost the initiative.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1875656059683908/

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