US and China hold 'frank and constructive' maritime security talks in Hawaii

The United States and Chinese militaries held “frank and constructive” maritime security discussions this week, the Chinese navy announced on Saturday, as both sides move to restore military-to-military communications after several months of trade-related friction.

According to the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s official social media account, the working-level meetings took place from November 18 to 20 in Hawaii. The navy said the delegations exchanged views mainly on the current maritime and air security situation between China and the United States.

The talks unfolded against a backdrop of intensifying tensions between China and Japan over Taiwan, and at a moment when Washington restated its commitment to its ally in Tokyo.

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The United States on Friday reaffirmed its strong support for Japan, calling its commitment to the bilateral alliance “unshakable” after China reacted sharply to comments by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Taiwan. China has escalated its rhetoric, strongly protesting Takaichi’s November 7 remarks that a Chinese military strike on Taiwan could create a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, enabling it to exercise its right to collective self-defence. Her statement in parliament indicated that Japanese defence forces might respond in the event of a Taiwan contingency.

South China sea dispute

Further pressure in the region has come from the South China Sea. The United States deployed two warships on August 13, 2025, to a disputed shoal where two Chinese navy and coastguard vessels had collided two days earlier while attempting to drive away a smaller Philippine ship, an incident recorded on video and raising alarm among several Western and Asian nations.

In October, the Philippines accused China of deliberately ramming a Philippine government vessel near Thitu Island in the Spratly Islands. The Philippine coastguard reported that at 01:15 GMT, a Chinese coastguard ship fired its water cannon at the BRP Datu Pagbuaya, a fisheries bureau vessel anchored near the island.

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Washington condemned China’s October 12 ramming and water cannoning of the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessel near Thitu Island, stating: “We stand with our Philippine allies as they confront China’s dangerous actions which undermine regional stability. China’s sweeping territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea and its increasingly coercive actions to advance them at the expense of its neighbours continue to undermine regional stability and fly in the face of its prior commitments to resolve disputes peacefully.”

These developments followed earlier meetings in April, marking the first working-level talks between US and Chinese military officials since President Donald Trump began his second term. The US Indo-Pacific Command said the April discussions in Shanghai centred on “decreasing the incidences of unsafe and unprofessional” behaviour by China’s naval and air forces. China’s defence ministry stated that it had raised concerns that US ships and aircraft were carrying out “reconnaissance, surveys and high-intensity drills” in sea and air spaces around China, which it argued risked causing misunderstandings, miscalculations and jeopardising China’s sovereignty and military security.