China Must Be Ready for Worst Case Scenario in US Rivalry—Ex-Navy Admiral

China should "hope for the best, but prepare for the worst" in its dealings with the United States, a retired Chinese navy rear admiral said on Saturday, amid a fresh thaw in tensions between the two rival superpowers.

"We must be prepared for various scenarios and strengthen ourselves," said Yang Yi, who headed a top research institute at the People's Liberation Army (PLA) National Defense University in Beijing after his service.

"Power is very important," he said. "When you are powerful and strong, the U.S. will not dare to anger you, and you can better protect your national interests."

Yang was speaking at an annual forum hosted over the weekend by China's state-owned Global Times newspaper. His comments came in the days after General Charles Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke with his Chinese counterpart for the first time.

Brown's video call on December 21 with PLA General Liu Zhenli was the first military-to-military dialogue at a senior level since July 2022, after Beijing suspended talks—and other cooperation—in response to then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's high-profile trip to Taiwan that summer.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping ended their November summit in San Francisco with a shared commitment to restarting talks between their militaries amid concerns that frequent run-ins in the Indo-Pacific region could lead to an accident, or worse.

U.S. defense officials have for months accused the Chinese leadership of deliberately denying the Pentagon's requests for high-level talks, while the PLA embarked on dozens to hundreds of dangerous air intercepts in international airspace.

"Exchanges between countries with different political systems, ideals, behaviors and principles are very important," said Yang.

Yang, who said military-to-military relations often fell victim to political fallout, said Beijing must send a clear message to Washington: "We don't seek confrontation, but we will resist."

Brown, who became America's most senior uniformed leader in October, "discussed the importance of working together to responsibly manage competition, avoid miscalculations, and maintain open and direct lines of communication," a statement from his office said.

He called for China to engage in "substantive dialogue to reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings," the statement said, noting the lack of interaction between theater-level leaders like Admiral John Aquilino, head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and his Chinese counterparts.

Liu said the two countries' militaries should hold talks "based on equality and respect, so as to jointly stabilize and improve the bilateral ties," China's embassy in Washington, D.C., said in a statement after the call.

"To develop healthy, stable and sustainable mil-to-mil relations, the key is that the U.S. should have [the] right perception toward China, the premise is that the U.S. should genuinely respect China's core interests and major concerns, and the focus should be on promoting practical cooperation and boosting mutual understanding," the embassy said.

"General Liu stressed that the Taiwan question is a purely internal affair of China, which allows no external interference, and the U.S. should respect China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights in the South China Sea," the statement said.

The Chinese government claims upward of 90 percent of the South China Sea as part of its so-called "dashed line," which is not supported by international maritime law.

At the Global Times event, Yang said recent tensions between Beijing and Manila over a number of disputed features in the Spratly Islands archipelago were the result of American instigation. The U.S. was using its treaty ally the Philippines as a "pawn" to provoke China, he said.