New York Post 
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has not spoken with China’s top military officials since taking office in January — despite the Pentagon’s best efforts, according to a new report.
“The military relationship is strained, no question about that. It’s hard to know how much this is reflective of that strain as much as it is just Chinese intransigence,” one US defense official told Reuters on Friday. “But we certainly want to have a dialogue. We just want to make sure we have a dialogue at the proper level.”
A second official told Reuters that the Biden administration has not been able to determine whether Austin should reach out to Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe or Beijing’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Xu Qiliang. The latter is said to have more influence with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Relations between Washington and Beijing are at a low point due to distrust over the origins of the pandemic as well as Chinese saber-rattling toward Taiwan, Beijing’s ambitions in the South China Sea, and its treatment of the Uighur Muslims in the northwestern province of Xinjiang.
Earlier this week, China issued a warning for the US not to “stir up trouble” after the guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur passed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, and entered waters surrounding the Paracel island group that Beijing claims as its territory on Thursday.
