WASHINGTON — The top U.S. and Chinese defense officials haven’t spoken since November, the Pentagon said Tuesday, a sign of how recent strains over Taiwan and an alleged spy balloon have fractured communications between the world’s two most powerful armed forces.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin last spoke to his Chinese counterpart, General Wei Fenghe, on the margins of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations event in Cambodia on Nov. 22, according to Brigadier General Pat Ryder, a Defense Department spokesman.
The Pentagon “maintains regular contact with the PRC at numerous levels,” Ryder said.
