Mattis: China’s defence chief to visit Washington next week

MANAMA, Bahrain — U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis is announcing that China’s defence chief will travel to Washington next week for a meeting that has been delayed by tensions between the two nations.

Mattis tells a security conference that he’ll meet with Defence Minister Wei Fenghe. Relations in the past year have been rocked by disputes over China’s militarization of the South China Sea and trade tariffs pushed by the Trump administration.

A Chinese destroyer also came aggressively close to a U.S. Navy ship earlier this month.

Mattis said strategic competition doesn’t imply hostility, and he is committed to co-operating with countries like China and Russia. He spoke at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.