Posted on: Tuesday, June 13, 2006
U.S.-China military ties warming
By Audrey McAvoy
Associated Press
The United States is having some success encouraging China to be
more transparent about its military, the top U.S. commander in the
Pacific said yesterday.
But Adm. William Fallon said Beijing would need to open up further
before he'll suggest that Congress loosen restrictions on military
contact between the two Pacific powers.
"I think we're making progress. And I'd like to see us continue to
move down this path," Fallon said. "Then I'd feel more comfortable
going back to Washington and recommending they make some
adjustments."
U.S. law limits exposure of the Chinese military to certain U.S.
operational areas and requires the U.S. military to submit annual
reports of its contacts with the People's Liberation Army.
Fallon has pushed to increase bilateral military contacts since he
assumed control of the Pacific Command in February last year,
saying the two countries must understand each other to avoid
miscalculation.
Military ties between the United States and China deteriorated
after a U.S. Navy spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet collided off
China's southern coast in 2001.
Fallon, along with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other
officials, has repeatedly called on China to explain why it is
rapidly modernizing its military and has boosted its annual
military spending by double-digit percentages for about a
decade.
Some U.S. critics have labeled as naive Fallon's efforts to boost
ties with China's military, charging it exposes the U.S. military
to examination by China without ensuring U.S. officers win the same
access to China's forces.
Fallon countered it would be irresponsible for him to not work with
China.
"I can only ask, so what would they have us do? Just sit here and
be a sphinx?" he said. "It's in the interests of our country to
engage with these people and not just stick our heads in the sand
and just find things to quibble over."
Fallon said he was not blind to potential security challenges from
China. "Having spent 39 years in uniform in military service, I
think I'm at least sensitive to the potential for things maybe not
going the way we'd like to see them. We take the prudent
precautions necessary," he said.
Rumsfeld approved increasing exchanges last October during a visit
to Beijing. Since then, a delegation of Chinese officers has
visited military bases in Hawai'i and Alaska, and another Chinese
group visited Camp Smith to see how the Pacific Command handled
administrative tasks.
A delegation of Pacific Command officers has visited China, while
Fallon himself traveled there in May for a week of meetings and
military installation tours.
Fallon said it was "a start" that China accepted his invitation to
observe exercises the U.S. military plans to hold off Guam next
week. Three aircraft carriers will be operating together in the
Pacific for the first time since the Vietnam War.
"We take the step to invite them," Fallon said. "There's an
expectation that they will reciprocate."
