Opinion | Why the US must revoke sanctions on China’s defence minister – now

When US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived at Beijing’s international airport on July 6, something rare appeared – a rainbow in the sky after a shower. American ambassador to China Nicolas Burns wasted no time in pointing this out to a smiling Yellen. When he met Yellen, Chinese Premier Li Qiang also mentioned the rainbow, saying, “I think there is more to China-US relations than just wind and rain…we will surely see more rainbows after going through the wind and rain.”

The question is how much wind and rain we will have to confront before we see a rainbow again. While there seems to have been small advances in the diplomatic and economic fields, there is no sign of “de-risking” in one crucial area – communication between the two militaries.

There was a time when both sides believed that the military-to-military relationship could even serve as a ballast stone amid political or economic tension. Such optimism is long gone. In the wake of then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, Beijing responded with days of military exercises near and around the island and suspended US-China military-to-military interactions.

The question is even if the People’s Liberation Army wishes to resume dialogue now, it is simply impossible. General Li Shangfu, now Chinese defence minister and state councillor, used to head the PLA’s Equipment Development Department. He has been under US sanctions since 2018 over the purchase of combat aircraft and an air-defence missile system from Rosoboronexport, Russia’s main arms exporter.

At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in early June, it was sad to see General Li and American Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin briefly greet each other and then sit stone-faced at the same table without making eye contact. Four days before the dialogue, Beijing declined the Pentagon’s invitation for a meeting between the Chinese defence minister and his American counterpart in Singapore.