WASHINGTON, 18 September 2021, (TON): Top United States General Mark Milley has defended calls he made to his Chinese counterpart in the final tumultuous months of Donald Trump’s presidency, saying they were “perfectly within the duties and responsibilities” of his job.

Milley’s comments came after a new book detailed two calls he made to General Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army to assure him that the US was not going to suddenly go to war with or attack China.

The calls were reportedly motivated by concerns over Trump’s possible actions as the presidential election approached and later as he sought to overturn the victory of President Joe Biden.

Milley said “the calls, which have sparked a firestorm that has included calls for him to be fired, were “routine” and done “to reassure both allies and adversaries in this case in order to ensure strategic stability.”

Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave the brief defence of his actions to reporters while travelling in Europe.

He plans a deeper discussion about the matter for Congress when he testifies at a hearing later in September, he said.

Milley said  “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.”

General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, right, has said his calls to his Chinese counterpart in the final months of Trump Presidency were ‘routine’.