The Pentagon is considering steps to intensify military ties with China, according to an article published in today's Washington Post.
The move reflects a growing acknowledgment of the importance of improved military ties with China, following the two recently-published US government reports -- one by the Defense Department and the other by a Congressional commission -- blowing up the "China threat" theory.
US-China relations suffered a serious setback when a US Navy surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter over the South China Sea in April 2001. Although the political relationship has since thawed, military contacts have remained icy, marked by limited exchanges and little opportunity to observe military maneuvers up close.
The Pentagon took a tentative step last month in the direction of more extensive and higher-level contacts by sending Peter W. Rodman, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, to China. The trip was said to have yielded encouraging results.
"Rodman had constructive talks and came back with the impression that there's a good understanding of our concerns," the article quoted a senior defense official as saying. "We're contemplating other things we could do to advance the process, and I think we should be able to move forward with some of them."
According to the article, among the measures under consideration are expanded educational exchanges for military officers and resumption of a regular high-level dialogue begun in the 1990s known as the Defense Consultative Talks.
"Our attitude is to do this in a careful, disciplined way," another defense official said. "We think there's an opportunity to improve the quality of these ties."
China's military also is still viewed by the Pentagon as an increasing threat to the Asia-Pacific balance of power, although China's defense budget is the lowest among all the major countries in the world, about one-nineteenth of the United States and half of Japan.
But within the administration, the State Department has advocated greater engagement with China, highlighting China's importance as a potential partner in the global war on terrorism. And outside the administration, some prominent Republicans also have urged the resumption of closer military contact with China.
"I think we have everything to gain by it and nothing to lose -- for two reasons," said Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser to former president George H.W. Bush. "First, of all the important groups in China, the one most isolated and therefore most in need of outside exposure is the military. And second, it is useful for us to invite them over and show them what a great military we have."
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz has spoken optimistically of how an increasingly powerful China could play a positive role in Asia and the Pacific. "We think that contacts between our two militaries can contribute to reducing misunderstanding and building a more secure Asia in the future," he said at the Foreign Press Center in late May.
Bush, who met with Chinese President Jiang Zemin in Beijing in February, has expressed interest in expanding military-to-military relations. "The president has and does see the need for US-China military-to-military ties that protect and serve US interests," said Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
(China Daily July 23, 2002)
