U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday that Washington and Beijing would establish military-to-military communications channels, adding that bilateral ties between the countries have “never been better.”

Hegseth said he spoke with his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Dong Jun, late Saturday on the sidelines of a regional security meeting and that they agreed that “peace, stability and good relations are the best path for our two great and strong countries.”

His remarks posted on X came hours after he urged Southeast Asian nations to stand firm and strengthen their maritime forces to counter China’s increasingly “destabilizing” actions in the South China Sea.

“China’s sweeping territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea fly in the face of their commitments to resolve disp

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