U.S. top general secretly called China over fears Trump could spark war

[beijingwalker]

U.S. top general secretly called China over fears Trump could spark war
September 15, 2021

WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The top U.S. general secretly called his Chinese counterpart twice over concerns then-President Donald Trump could spark a war with China as his potential election loss loomed and in its aftermath, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

U.S. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called General Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army on Oct. 30, 2020 - four days before the election - and again on Jan. 8, two days after Trump supporters led a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, the newspaper reported.

In the calls, Milley sought to assure Li the United States was stable and not going to attack and, if there were to be an attack, he would alert his counterpart ahead of time, the report said.

The report was based on "Peril," a new book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, which they said relied on interviews with 200 sources and is due to be released next week.

Trump, in a statement, cast doubt in the story, calling it "fabricated." He said if the story was true Milley should be tried for treason. "For the record, I never even thought of attacking China," Trump said.

Milley's office declined to comment.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio called on President Joe Biden, a Democrat, to immediately fire Milley.

“I do not need to tell of you the dangers posed by senior military officers leaking classified information on US military operations, but I will underscore that such subversion undermines the President’s ability to negotiate and leverage one of this nation’s instruments of national power in his interactions with foreign nations,” Mr Rubio said in a letter to Mr Biden.

Asked about the report by reporters travelling with President Joe Biden aboard Air Force One, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment and referred them to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Department.

The Republican Trump named Milley to the top military post in 2018 but began criticising him, as he has other appointees and former staffers, after losing the November election to Democrat Joe Biden and left the White House on Jan 20.

Milley was motivated to contact Beijing the second time in part due to a Jan 8 call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had asked the general what safeguards were in place to prevent an "unstable president" from launching a nuclear strike, the report said, citing a transcript of the call.

"He's crazy. You know he's crazy," Pelosi told Milley in the call, according to the report.

According to the cited call transcript, the general replied, "I agree with you on everything."

U.S. top general secretly called China over fears Trump could spark war -report

The top U.S. general secretly called his Chinese counterpart twice over concerns then-President Donald Trump could spark a war with China as his potential election loss loomed and in its aftermath, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

www.reuters.com

 

[beijingwalker]

Milley Sought To Avert Conflict With China Over Trump Fears

 

[lcloo]

Dubious of Trump's sanity, US general secretly called China, claims new book (nst.com.my)

Dubious of Trump's sanity, US General called China
WASHINGTON: The top US general was so worried in early January that Donald Trump was out of control that he took secret action to prevent the outgoing president from sparking a war with China, according to a new book.

Joint Chiefs Chair General Mark Milley ordered aides to not act immediately on any move by Trump to use US nuclear forces, and he called a Chinese general to reassure Beijing, presidential chronicler Bob Woodward and co-author Robert Costa wrote in their soon-to-be-released book.

The Washington Post -- Woodward's and Costa's employer -- and other media on Tuesday reported excerpts from the book "Peril," depicting Milley as organizing the Pentagon and intelligence community to resist any move by Trump to ratchet up tensions with China or Iran after he lost the November 2020 presidential election.

Milley called Chinese counterpart General Li Zuocheng twice, on October 30 just before Trump's election defeat, and on January 8, two days after Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol, to reassure him that the Republican president's anti-China rhetoric could not translate into military action.

"General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay," Milley told Li in the October call, Woodward and Costa write.

"We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you," Milley said.

Two months later, Milley used the secret back-channel with Li again after the US Capitol riot, amid concerns both in Beijing and Washington that Trump was unstable.

"We are 100 percent steady. Everything's fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes," Milley told Li, according to the book.

To reassure the Chinese, Milley went so far as to have the Pentagon's Indo-Pacific Command postpone military exercises that Beijing might have viewed as a possible threat.

Separately, Milley told his top staff that if Trump sought to exercise his power to order a nuclear strike, that they had to inform him first.

And Milley discussed with other top officials, including CIA director Gina Haspel and National Security Agency head Paul Nakasone, the need to be vigilant amid concerns Trump could act irrationally.

Haspel said they were in a "highly dangerous situation."

"Some might contend that Milley had overstepped his authority and taken extraordinary power for himself," the authors wrote.

But he believed he was acting correctly "to ensure there was no historic rupture in the international order, no accidental war with China or others, and no use of nuclear weapons," they said.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the book's claims.

Trump lashed out on Tuesday, calling Milley a crude epithet and blaming him for the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August.

"I assume that he would be tried for treason in that he would have been dealing with his Chinese counterpart behind the president's back," Trump said in a statement.

Milley's second Li call came after the top lawmaker in Congress, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, phoned Milley about Trump's state of mind and his rejection -- held to this day -- of President Joe Biden's election victory.

Two days earlier, goaded on by Trump, hundreds of supporters violently stormed Congress, forcing lawmakers to cancel a session meant to certify Biden's victory and causing lawmakers of both parties to flee.

Woodward and Costa obtained a transcript of the Pelosi call.

"What precautions are available to prevent an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or from accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike?" Pelosi asked.

"If they couldn't even stop him from an assault on the Capitol, who even knows what else he may do?" she said.

"He's crazy. You know he's crazy... and what he did yesterday is further evidence of his craziness."

The system had "a lot of checks" to forestall extreme behavior by the president, Milley responded.

Nevertheless, he said, "I agree with you on everything."

Republican lawmakers quickly used the reports to attack Milley, with senior Senator Marco Rubio calling for Biden to fire the general.

Rubio, a defender of Trump, alleged Milley "worked to actively undermine the sitting Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces and contemplated a treasonous leak of classified information to the Chinese Communist Party."

"These actions by General Milley demonstrate a clear lack of sound judgement, and I urge you to dismiss him immediately," he said in a letter to Biden.

"Peril" will go on sale on September 21. -- AFP

 

[Globenim]

The report was based on "Peril," a new book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, which they said relied on interviews with 200 sources and is due to be released next week.

if the story was true

Someone said someone said.

The U.S. population is looking for a scapegoat after realizing they have been had in Afghanistan, paying billions in taxes to U.S. lobbyists for absolutely nothing and U.S. nationalist are fuming over a shamefull end to their occupation. U.S. media mouthpieces are just hyping this gossip up to misdirect this puplic anger and attention from Afghanistan towards more "useful" hate against China.

Until Chinese counterparts or Chinas FM confirmed this, nothing happend. U.S. media and U.S. state officials are not reliable and trustworthy sources for anything.

 

[艹艹艹]

 

[SIPRA]

Civilian supremacy in the oldest democracy ........

 

[MH.Yang]

It's a good story. It adds trump and China's two villain hotspots to the story. This story must sell well.
I think the reporter of this story can join the BBC news production department.

 

[艹艹艹]

If what was reported in the book was true, then this general was a patriot hero For many reasons.

“You’re Gonna Have a Fucking War”: Mark Milley’s Fight to Stop Trump from Striking Iran

“You’re Gonna Have a Fucking War”: Mark Milley’s Fight to Stop Trump from Striking Iran

By Susan B. Glasser July 15, 2021 In the months after the 2020 election, the subject of Iran was repeatedly raised in White House meetings with Trump, and Mark Milley repeatedly argued against a strike.Photograph by Al Drago / Bloomberg / Getty The last time that General Mark Milley, the...

defence.pk

 

[siegecrossbow]

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/news/news-fb7bvaxnys0

If the story of “Dumbass” General Mark Milley, the same failed leader who engineered the worst withdrawal from a country, Afghanistan, in U.S. history, leaving behind many dead and wounded soldiers, many American citizens, and $85 Billion worth of the newest and most sophisticated Military equipment in the world, and our Country’s reputation, is true, then I assume he would be tried for TREASON in that he would have been dealing with his Chinese counterpart behind the President’s back and telling China that he would be giving them notification “of an attack.” Can’t do that!



The good news is that the story is Fake News concocted by a weak and ineffective General together with two authors who I refused to give an interview to because they write fiction, not fact. Actions should be taken immediately against Milley, and better generals in our Military, of which we have many, should get involved so that another Afghanistan disaster never happens again. Remember, I was the one who took out 100% of the ISIS Caliphate. Milley said it couldn’t be done!



For the record, I never even thought of attacking China—and China knows that. The people that fabricated the story are sick and demented, and the people who print it are just as bad. In fact, I’m the only President in decades who didn’t get the U.S. into a war—a well known fact that is seldom reported.

 

[casual]

That considered treason.

 

[tower9]

Yeah I’d take this story with a grain of salt. Might be possible though.

 

[Nan Yang]

How bad can US internal politics get ? And we know it just gonna get even worst.

 

[beijingwalker]

Biden Admin Calls Gen. Milley Patriotic "Man of Honor" After Alleged China Calls

 

[Daniel808]

Gen. Milley Feared Trump Might Launch Nuclear Attack, Made Secret Calls to China, new Book says
Chelsey Cox

Gen. Mark Milley and Donald Trump

In the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley — then former President Donald Trump's top military adviser — took precautions to limit Trump's ability to launch a military strike or deploy nuclear weapons, according to a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of The Washington Post.

In "Peril," Woodward and Costa write that Milley was afraid Trump had constructed "his own alternate reality about endless election conspiracies" and was worried the former president could "go rogue," CNN reported.

Milley told senior staff that "You never know what a president's trigger point is," according to CNN.

In an rare move, the outlet reported, Milley called a secret meeting of senior military officials at the Pentagon on Jan. 8 to review the process for military action — including launching nuclear weapons. He instructed those in charge of the National Military Command Center, the Pentagon's war room, not to take orders from anyone without his involvement.


According to CNN, he told the officials "No matter what you are told, you do the procedure. You do the process. And I'm part of that procedure." Milley then looked each officer in the eye and asked them to verbally confirm they understood his instructions.

Milley's actions were prompted by a phone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., earlier that day. According to The Washington Post, Pelosi demanded to know “What precautions are available to prevent an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or from accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike?”


“He’s crazy. You know he’s crazy. … He’s crazy and what he did yesterday is further evidence of his craziness,” she said, according to The Post. Milley replied, “I agree with you on everything.”

Milley's decision to place himself between Trump and sanctioned military actions mirrored those of James R. Schlesinger, secretary of defense under President Richard Nixon. In August 1974, Schlesinger instructed military officials to alert him and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs before carrying out orders from Nixon, who was facing impeachment at the time, The Post reported.



Milley also reassured Chinese Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army that the U.S. had no intention of launching a strike against China, according to the paper. It was one of two secret phone calls shared with Li on the issue.

The first took place on Oct. 30, 2020, after Milley reviewed intelligence suggesting China believed the U.S. was preparing for an attack due to military exercises in the South China Sea and Trump's antagonism toward the country, according to The Post. But Milley told Li he would be warned of an impending attack.

“General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years," he said, according to the paper. "If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.”

But the events of Jan. 6 renewed Li's concerns. On Jan. 8, Milley once again assured the Chinese general. “We are 100 percent steady. Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes,” he told him, according to The Post.

The same day, the paper reported, Milley contacted the admiral overseeing the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to recommend postponing military exercises, to which he complied.



In a statement Tuesday, Trump responded to the book's revelations by calling Milley a "failed leader who engineered the worst withdrawal from a country ... in U.S. history..."

If the story is true, he said, "then I assume (Milley) would be tried for TREASON in that he would have been dealing with his Chinese counterpart behind the President's back and telling China that he would be giving them notification 'of an attack.' Can't do that!"


"Peril" is a recount of Trump's final days in office based on more than 200 interviews with eyewitness accounts. Woodward and Costa also delve into the first days of the Biden presidency.

The book is supplemented with classified material, from secret orders to call transcripts, diaries, emails, meeting notes and personal government records. It is scheduled for release on Sept. 21.



https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...trump-could-launch-nuclear-attack/8334915002/






Many US politicians and their fanboy horde in here always barking that War with China will be like attacking Iraq Saddam or Libya




But US Generals & Military commanders who have proper Knowledge about China's Military Capability & their Gigantic Production Capacity, knows War with China will be a suicide for human race.
And sacrifice tens of millions of american people lives just for some country interest in Asia is not worth it.

When Gen. Mark Milley (Top Military Adviser-US Joint Chief of Staff) reassured the Gen. Li Zuocheng (Joint Chief of Staff Of China's Armed Forces) even he comes to the point that he will going to call Chinese side ahead of time, if their president go rogue and chose to attack China

 

[beijingwalker]

Milley defends calls to Chinese as effort to avoid conflict
The top U.S. military officer is defending his phone calls to his Chinese counterpart during the final months of Donald Trump's presidency as an effort to avoid misunderstandings and conflict
By JONATHAN LEMIRE and ROBERT BURNS Associated Press
16 September 2021, 20:28


WASHINGTON -- The top U.S. military officer on Wednesday defended the phone calls he made to his Chinese counterpart in the turbulent final months of Donald Trump's presidency, saying the conversations were intended to convey “reassurance” to the Chinese military and were in line with his responsibilities as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Some in Congress accused Gen. Mark Milley of having overstepped his authority and urged President Joe Biden to fire him, but Biden indicated Wednesday he stands behind Milley.

“I have great confidence in Gen. Milley,” Biden said when asked by a reporter whether Milley had done the right thing.

In a written statement, Milley's spokesman, Col. Dave Butler, said Milley acted within his authority as the most senior uniformed adviser to the president and to the secretary of defense.

“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,” Butler said. “All calls from the chairman to his counterparts, including those reported, are staffed, coordinated and communicated with the Department of Defense and the interagency.”

The Milley phone calls were described in excerpts from the forthcoming book “Peril” by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. The book says Milley told Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army that he would warn his counterpart in the event of a U.S. attack.

Milley was appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs in 2019 by Trump and kept on by Biden. In that position Milley does not command any troops but rather is an adviser to the president and to the secretary of defense. John Kirby, spokesman for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, said Austin has “complete and utter trust and confidence in Gen. Milley.”

The book by Woodward and Costa reported that Milley, fearful of Trump's actions in his final weeks as president, twice called his Chinese counterpart to assure him that the United States was not going to attack China. One call took place on Oct. 30, 2020, four days before the election that Trump lost. The second call was on Jan. 8, 2021, less than two weeks before Biden's inauguration and just two days after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Trump.


The Associated Press obtained a copy of the book. Details from the book, which is set to be released next week, were first reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday.

“General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay,” Milley told him in the first call, according to the book. “We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.”

“If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise," Milley reportedly said.

In his statement Wednesday, Milley's spokesman did not directly address this aspect of the call but said Milley regularly communicates with his counterparts across the globe, including in China and Russia, to reduce tensions, provide clarity and avoid “unintended consequences or conflict.”

Milley spoke with a number of other military leaders around the world after the Jan. 6 riot, including from the United Kingdom, Russia and Pakistan. A readout of those calls in January referred to “several” other counterparts that he spoke to with similar messages of reassurance that the U.S. government was strong and in control.

The second call was meant to placate Chinese fears about the events of Jan. 6. But the book reports that Li wasn’t as easily assuaged, even after Milley promised him: “We are 100 percent steady. Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.”

On Tuesday, Trump said Milley should be tried for treason if it was true that he had promised Li that he would warn him in the event of a U.S. attack. In a follow-up statement Wednesday, Trump called Milley “a complete nutjob” and said he “never told me about calls being made to China.”

“He put our Country in a very dangerous position but President Xi knows better, and would’ve called me,” Trump added.

Milley believed the president suffered a mental decline after the election, agreeing with a view shared by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a phone call they had Jan. 8, according to officials. Milley also asked senior officers to swear an “oath” that Milley had to be involved if Trump gave an order to launch nuclear weapons, according to the book.

In the statement Wednesday, Milley's spokesman said Milley had conferred with the senior officers about nuclear weapons protocols “to remind uniformed leaders in the Pentagon of the long-established and robust procedures in light of media reporting on the subject.” Butler, the spokesman, appeared to be referring to news reports of the Jan. 8 Milley-Pelosi phone call. Butler did not address whether Milley had insisted he be part of the nuclear weapons procedures.

Pelosi had previously said she spoke to Milley that day about “available precautions” to prevent Trump from initiating military action or ordering a nuclear launch, and she told colleagues she was given unspecified assurances that there were longstanding safeguards in place.

Milley, according to the book, called the admiral overseeing the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the military unit responsible for Asia and the Pacific region, and recommended postponing upcoming military exercises.

It's not clear what, if any, military exercises were actually postponed. But defense officials said it is more likely that the military postponed a planned operation, such as a freedom of navigation transit by a U.S. Navy ship in the Pacific region. The defense officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

In response to the book, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sent Biden a letter Tuesday urging him to fire Milley, saying the general worked to “actively undermine the sitting Commander in Chief.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called the report “deeply concerning,” telling reporters at the Capitol, “I think the first step is for General Milley to answer the question as to what exactly he said.”

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he had no concerns that Milley might have exceeded his authority, telling reporters that Democratic lawmakers “were circumspect in our language but many of us made it clear that we were counting on him to avoid the disaster which we knew could happen at any moment.”

Milley defends calls to Chinese as effort to avoid conflict

The top U.S. military officer is defending his phone calls to his Chinese counterpart during the final months of Donald Trump's presidency as an effort to avoid misunderstandings and conflict

abcnews.go.com