'No war': Trump-era US military chief contacted China without president's knowledge, claims new book – The Week

US military chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Mark Milley, made informal contact with his Chinese counterpart in the final phases of the Trump presidency. The contacts were made outside of the president’s knowledge, and Milley was trying to assuage fears that the two countries could go to war, The Washington Post quoted excerpts from a new book Peril , by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.à‚ According to the Post’s excerpt, Milley told Gen Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army that the United States will not conduct strikes. Milley was reportedly concerned by intelligence reports that…