China Blames US for Failure to Hold Bilateral Military Meeting - Foreign Ministry
The United States must take full responsibility for the breakdown of a meeting between Washington and Beijing military delegations, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday
BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th December, 2020) The United States must take full responsibility for the breakdown of a meeting between Washington and Beijing military delegations, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday.
The chief of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. Philip Davidson, on Wednesday said that China had refused to participate in an online meeting scheduled to take place from Monday to Wednesday under the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA) between the two countries. The admiral described it as an example of Beijing's disregard for agreements.
"According to the information available to us, all the responsibility for the US and Chinese military failing to hold the 2020 meeting within the maritime security mechanism framework lies entirely with the US side. The accusations by the US military are absolutely irresponsible. I would ask you to refer to the Chinese Ministry of National Defense for details," Wang said at a briefing.
China and the US signed the MMCA in 1998 to prevent accidents when their maritime forces operate near each other.