China and U.S. grapple with military mistrust

China and U.S. grapple with(扭打) military（军事） mistrust

Reuters（路透社） – Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Chief of General Staff Chen Bingde waves after his meeting …

By David Alexander and Michael Martina – Fri May 13, 5:38 pm ET

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) – The Pentagon（五角大楼）next week hosts the highest-level Chinese military visit to the United States since Beijing severed(断绝) ties（关系） between the two armed forces in early 2010 in protest（抗议） over a $6.3 billion U.S. arms deal with Taiwan.

The visit by the General Chen Bingde, chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army, and seven other generals comes amid warming Sino（中国）-U.S. ties following President Hu Jintao's first state visit to the United States in January, U.S. military officials said.

In addition to meeting his U.S. counterpart（对手）, Admiral（海军上将） Mike Mullen, Chen will visit Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton （希拉里克林顿）and members of Congress and will speak at the National Defense University on the bilateral（双边的） military relations.

Officials hope the visit will begin to turn around a relationship that in recent years often has been overshadowed by tensions（压力） caused by U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and U.S. concerns about China's rapid military expansion.

"The lack of high-level and sustained（持续的） military-to-military engagement means that the whole of the U.S.-China relationship remains unbalanced," said Cheung Tai Ming, a senior fellow at the University of California's Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.

 

【coverage(覆盖)】 

Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff（参谋长）, hopes the visit will lead to establishment of more frequent contact with Chen, such as regular phone calls, to enable them to "develop a bit of a relationship," a senior military official said.

"The region and the world really expect our two militaries to have an institutionalized relationship," the official said, in which "there is some trust and transparency between us" and miscommunications or mishaps（灾祸） do not inadvertently（非故意的） spin out of control.

While Mullen and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates have been pushing to institutionalize（使制度化） contacts between the two militaries, it is not clear if China is ready for such a move.

ARMS SALES TO TAIWAN

Chen told a visiting U.S. delegation（美国参访团） last month that arms sales to Taiwan, which China considers a renegade（叛变的） province, were still the biggest obstacle facing the military-to-military relationship.

The issue of Taiwan arms sales is likely to be raised during Chen's visit but will not be solved and U.S. officials will try to make the point that it should not prevent establishing a "positive and durable（耐用的） relationship," a U.S. military official said.

China suspended（悬浮） its military links with the United States in January 2010 after President Barack Obama's administration announced $6.3 billion worth of arms sales to Taiwan, including Patriot（爱国者） anti-missile systems and Apache attack helicopters（直升机）.

Ties remained severed through much of 2010 before tentative（尝试性的） contacts resumed in the final months of the year. Meanwhile, the United States and others in the region have watched with concern as China's military displayed a growing military aggressiveness while rapidly expanding its military.

In a show of muscle（肌肉）, China confirmed it had held its first test flight of the J-20 stealth fighter（隐型战机） during a January visit to Beijing by Gates. Rapid development of the fighter to counter（反击） the U.S. F-22 Raptor（猛禽） stealth fighter caught some by surprise.

It also is possible China will launch its first aircraft carrier（航空母舰） later this year.

Chinese ships shadowing U.S. vessels （船舶，容器）in the South China Sea and Beijing's surprise launch of a missile that destroyed an inactive Chinese satellite in 2007 have raised worries about the risk of dangerous missteps（失足）, especially as China's military increasingly rubs up（摩擦） against U.S. forces in Asia.

But Admiral Robert Willard, head of U.S. forces in the Pacific, told a Senate（参议员） hearing last month that Chinese forces had been less aggressive this year. And a U.S. official said a warming trend in ties had begun following Hu's state visit in January.

For its part, China sees the heavy U.S. military presence（存在） in Asia, especially bases in South Korea and Japan, as threats（威胁） to its influence and interests.

However, both also see the need to communicate better.

"This military relationship is taking on more importance, not only because as China's military develops so do the chances of mistrust, but also because cooperation in problem spots like Libya, Afghanistan and Pakistan cannot develop without it," said Peking University professor Zhu Feng.

Apart from meeting top U.S. civilian and military leaders, Chen and his 24-member delegation will visit four bases -- Norfolk Naval Station （诺福克海军站）in Virginia, Fort（堡） Stewart in Georgia, Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada（内华达） and the Army National Training Center in California.

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Mary Milliken and Will Dunham)