U.S., Chinese Navies Skip Annual Major Meeting On Maritime Safety

摘要

American and Chinese military officials have scrapped plans for this year's major bilateral meeting on naval operations in waters far off China's coastline, according to U.S. Pacific Command. The command, which leads the talks under the 1998 Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA), had been working for months to pin down meeting dates and locations. PACOM spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Bill Clinton said there was "a successful, cordial and professional working-group meeting" on Aug. 25-26 in Quindao, China. He indirectly referenced the scrapping of this year's plenary meeting. "There will be an additional working-group meeting within the next six months, followed by a plenary later next year," he said. At press time (Sept. 7), PACOM had not provided a comment on why there will be no plenary meeting led by senior officials this year.