Center for a New American Security

This week the Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, General Chen Bingde, visited Washington to hold two days of meetings with some of his U.S. counterparts. This was the first time a Chief of the General Staff visited the United States in seven years. Although the issues that got most of the media coverage were General Chen’s statement that China’s military wasn’t strong enough to challenge the United States, as well as his statement on U.S. arm sales to Taiwan, there were indications that natural security issues emerged as potential areas of cooperation between the United States and China.

For example, in his joint press conference with General Chen on Wednesday, Admiral Michael Mullen described five areas where the Chinese-U.S. militaries had shared concerns, including around “nuclear proliferation, terrorism, climate change, energy security and piracy,” according to the China Daily. In a statement released by General Chen and Admiral Mullen, they listed combined natural disaster relief missions as an area ripe for cooperation, according to CNN. Although little reported, these sentiments seem to have been echoed in General Chen’s speech at the National Defense University. One recap of the speech, for instance, noted that General Chen said cooperation around food security and climate change were potential opportunities for future collaboration.  

Photo: Admiral Michael Mullen and General Chen Bingde shake hands outside the Pentagon on Tuesday. Courtesy of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Sun L. Vega and the Department of Defense.