Phone calls to China 'perfectly within duties' of job: US General Milley says amid row

US military General Mark Milley said on Friday that the phone calls he made to his Chinese counterpart were “perfectly within the duties and responsibilities of his job.” Marking his first public comments in the aftermath of a controversy generated by an upcoming book accusing him of overstepping his power under former US President Donald Trump, Milley asserted that calls were routine and were done to  “reassure both allies and adversaries in this case in order to ensure strategic stability”.

In 2019, Milley was appointed as US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the presidency of Donald Trump and continued his role under Joe Biden. The American Army general triggered controversy on Tuesday after excerpts from an upcoming book by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa disclosed that he overstepped his power twice while working under Donald Trump.

Excerpts from the book titled Peril stated that Milley telephoned Chinese military general Li Zuocheng twice, in 2020 and 2021, assuring him that the US would not attack China. Additionally, he also reaffirmed to Beijing that he would inform them beforehand if an attack was to take place. 

On Friday, the Army general tried to mitigate the controversy by saying that he plans to discuss it deeply and disclose all the details during his testimony with Congress later this month. “I think it’s best that I reserve my comments on the record until I do that in front of the lawmakers who have the lawful responsibility to oversee the US military. I’ll go into any level of detail Congress wants to go into in a couple of weeks,” he said.

Milley, along with Pentagon Chief Llyod Austin, is set to testify in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee on September 28. While the hearing was planned to focus on the administration’s ‘hasty’ troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, it is now expected to confront Milley on the two phone calls he made to America’s geopolitical rival, China. 

Republicans call for Milley's resignation 

Soon after Milley's conversation was leaked, Republicans demanded his resignation. Later, Milley’s office released a statement defending his action. “His calls with the Chinese and others in October and January were in keeping with these duties and responsibilities conveying reassurance in order to maintain strategic stability. All calls from the Chairman to his counterparts, including those reported, are staffed, coordinated and communicated with the Department of Defense and the interagency," it said.

(With inputs from AP, Image: AP)