Politico | Former Joint Chiefs chair: nothing unusual about Mark Milley’s contacts with China
- ‘Having communications with counterparts around the world is routine,’ Michael Mullen said
- According to a book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, Milley reached out to China in the waning days of the Trump administration
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by David Cohen on politico.com on September 19, 2021.
Michael Mullen, former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Sunday said there was nothing abnormal about the reported conversations between General Mark Milley and his counterparts in China.
According to authors Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, Milley reached out to China in the waning days of the Trump administration, attempting to reduce tensions by assuring China that no American attack was imminent – and asking that China should not do anything without consulting the US military leadership.
“I didn’t consider that abnormal at all,” Mullen told host Martha Raddatz on ABC’s This Week.
“Having communications with counterparts around the world is routine,” said Mullen, who was chair of the joint chiefs from 2007 to 2011.
Mullen said what he found most “worrisome” about the reports involving Milley, which come from a new book by Woodward and Costa called Peril, was that China interpreted the situation in American politics to suggest that an attack was possible.
