Top US general’s office pushes back on reported secret calls with China

WASHINGTON: The office of America’s top general on Wednesday pushed back against a report in a new book that he went around the nation’s civilian leaders to place secret calls to his Chinese counterpart over concerns about then-President Donald Trump.

According to excerpts of the book, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, secretly called General Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army twice to say that the United States was stable and not going to attack and, if there were to be an attack, he would alert him ahead of time.

The excerpts were reported by the Washington Post on Tuesday.

“All calls from the Chairman to his counterparts, including those reported, are staffed, coordinated and communicated with the Department of Defense and the interagency,” Colonel Dave Butler, a spokesman for Milley, said in a statement.

“General Milley continues to act and advise within his authority in the lawful tradition of civilian control of the military and his oath to the Constitution,” Butler said.

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he had complete confidence in Milley’s leadership.

“I have great confidence in General Milley,” Biden said.

Butler said that Milley’s calls with Chinese and others in October and January were “in keeping with these duties and responsibilities conveying reassurance in order to maintain strategic stability.”

The book, “Peril,” by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, which they said relied on interviews with 200 sources, is due to be released next week.

In a statement on Tuesday, Trump called the story “fabricated.” If it was true, he said, Milley should be tried for treason.

“For the record, I never even thought of attacking China,” Trump said.

Trump, a Republican, named Milley to the top military post in 2018 but began criticizing him, as well as other appointees and former staffers, after losing the presidential election to Biden in November 2020.