Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s meeting on Thursday with a top Chinese general has awkward written all over it.
Carter’s rendezvous with Gen. Fan Changlong, vice chair of China’s Central Military Commission, comes amid a period of heightened tensions on multiple fronts between the two world powers.
Just last week, hackers broke into federal databases and stole the personal information of more than four million federal employees — and U.S. officials didn’t hesitate to quickly blame China for the massive security breach.
And that’s just the most recent source of tensions.
Here are five of the most awkward conversation topics Carter and Changlong could broach on Thursday.
1. The hack
Chinese hackers allegedly stole the personal information of 4.2 million federal employees, a cyberattack that was revealed last Thursday, exactly a week before the meeting.
U.S. officials say the breach could be the biggest yet of the federal government’s computer systems, and it has officials fuming at China’s increasingly aggressive actions in cyberspace.
The hack could have wide-ranging security implications as China could now build a database of federal employees — including those with security clearances — to leverage the information in spying missions on U.S. soil.
China denied any involvement in the cyberattack and called the allegation from the U.S. irresponsible.
It also pointed a finger right back at the U.S., noting that “China itself is also a victim of cyberattacks.” The U.S. has for years used the Internet to spy on a long list of countries, including China.
It’s highly unlikely Changlong will fess up to Carter about China’s role in the incident, but perhaps they could try and draw up some rules in a back-and-forth game of cyberspying that so far seems to have very few, if any.
2. South China Sea
But China hasn’t just been on the offensive in the expanding cyberwar between the two countries. It’s also taking an increasingly assertive stance in the South China Sea — moves that risk harming broader U.S. strategic goals.
This is one region where Carter is likely to be especially concerned, as he along with other top current and former military officials have raised concerns about China’s actions in the region.
Just as the U.S. is slowly making its “pivot to Asia” — a key plank of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy — a reality, China is asserting itself along its territorial boundaries and into international waters.
China is building a series of man-made, militarized islands off the Chinese coast — that is, if you consider an island 600 miles from the Chinese mainland coastal.
The tensions were on full display last month when a CNN crew joined a U.S. surveillance aircraft patrolling the international airspace above the South China Sea, where the Chinese are building up their defenses.
“This is the Chinese navy … This is the Chinese navy … Please go away … to avoid misunderstanding,” a voice in English crackled through the radio as the U.S. naval aircraft flew over the islands.
The moves pose a direct challenge to the U.S., which is beefing up its military presence in the Pacific and looking to shore up key allies in the region. It wants to keep the waters free and clear for international commerce and doesn’t want to see China gobble up the valuable natural resources in the region.
3. East China Sea
Then there are the ongoing disputes between China and America’s top regional allies over territorial claims to islands in the East China Sea.
China has repeatedly butted heads with its neighbors to the east over sovereignty claims, some for islands that are completely uninhabited.
China has sparred — via words and military maneuvers — with Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, all of which look to the U.S. to keep China from going too far.
Particularly fierce threats have flown back and forth between China and Japan, and the U.S. has often had to play the role of mediator.
4. Human rights
Of course, no private conversation between the U.S. and China is complete without a bit of good old-fashioned American lecturing on human rights.
Carter on Thursday will certainly have his pick of examples, as a litany of abuses have smeared the country’s human rights record.
China continues to shackle freedom of speech and press freedoms in the country — jailing dissidents and restricting journalists’ access. Information is tightly controlled, certain websites are blocked and dissenters are routinely arrested by Chinese security forces.
“Activists and human rights defenders risked harassment and arbitrary detention. Torture and other ill-treatment remained widespread and access to justice was elusive for many,” Amnesty International’s 2015 human rights report found. “Record numbers of workers went on strike demanding better pay and conditions.”
That’s not to mention the Chinese government’s crackdowns on autonomous regions, like Tibet, where activists continue to demand more rights and independent status.
“Ethnic minorities including Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongolians faced discrimination and increased security crackdown,” Amnesty’s report adds.
5. Trade disputes
It’s not directly related to defense, but it would be hard to avoid the topic of strained international trade ties between the two countries.
First there’s the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the economic underpinning of Obama’s Asian pivot. The 12-nation pact includes just about all of China’s neighbors, including Japan. And Obama has made no secret of the fact that he sees the deal as an opportunity to assert U.S. economic influence in the region as a counter to Beijing.
But the two countries are at odds in a host of other trade disputes, too — some deep in the weeds but still important to American businesses.
China for months has been an obstacle in negotiations over expanding the World Trade Organization’s global agreement to drop tariffs on information technology and consumer electronics equipment.
The country has also balked at a push from other World Trade Organization members, including the United States, to drop its agriculture subsidies — putting the Geneva-based organization’s reputation as a negotiating body at risk in the process.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. In recent years, the two countries have brawled over everything from rare earth minerals to tires.