9 T: k6 z7 f2 s/ R* U% \2 pBEIJING — China's military is proposing officer exchanges and other confidence-building measures with the U.S. Army and may be inching closer to setting up a “hotline” for emergency communication with Washington, the top U.S. general said Friday.# b9 Q* g1 Z1 ~2 B' S6 [
4 }" }2 a6 ]% |0 P4 [0 XHowever, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he received no new information in meetings with Chinese military chiefs about Beijing's test of an anti-satellite weapon in January that raised concern in Washington. He said he continued to press China's generals for more transparency about the aims of their military buildup. 0 b( m2 n" \9 D1 l4 y# x* |0 q# P* Q8 u& R* j3 l- `
“I used the example of the anti-satellite test as how sometimes the international community can be confused, because it was a surprise that China did that, and it wasn't clear what their intent was,” Gen. Pace said.( A H# z! c5 x/ h, S7 J* M7 d6 i, I
& c5 v' e& V j% G# `8 NGen. Pace said he immediately agreed to study the proposals put forward Friday by Gen. Liang Guanglie, chief of the PLA's General Staff Department. Liang's move suggested a departure from the skepticism with which the highly secretive People's Liberation Army has long regarded co-operation with the U.S. military. 6 a9 @' Q: z* w2 ^- \% k; Y6 [4 ^8 l& k ?- t7 n
“To me this was a very good, open discussion and one that I found very encouraging,” Gen. Pace told reporters in Beijing.0 i o% ^, w* ^3 O* ]
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Gen. Liang's proposals included sending Chinese cadets to the Army academy at West Point as well as participating in joint exercises and humanitarian and relief-at-sea operations “that might be able to build trust and confidence amongst our forces.” # |9 w1 m+ \: t7 @, S; M ; o& z+ q7 Q' Z4 r8 R# f$ v0 |3 lMilitary exchanges were largely suspended following a collision between a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese jet fighter over the South China Sea in 2001. The Chinese pilot was killed and the U.S. crew held captive after making an emergency landing at a Chinese air base.* ^/ [% w, ?. N9 m
1 J' r; \$ v- {During that crisis, communication between the sides was spotty and at times non-existent, largely because Washington had no direct channel of communications with the Chinese leadership. : j' L8 v S3 i9 P5 O0 J" p* s" \- P( r( ?
Gen. Pace said the sides agreed to keep discussing setting up a “hotline” between either military or civilian leaders that would help ease any future friction. + [) S1 H8 Z, a( c. b " \/ Z# S! V8 H4 x2 d! T" ]“The Chinese military understands as well as I do that the opportunity to pick up the phone and talk to somebody you know and smooth out misunderstandings quickly is a very important part of relations between two countries,” Gen. Pace said. / K# _! M: a1 I9 [( m( t2 o1 o 1 @" z0 ^8 @0 S9 ^) K' x- YDeep mistrust remains, however, particularly over Washington's close military ties with Japan and commitment to help ensure the defence of Taiwan, the self-governing island that China considers its own territory and which it has threatened to use force to recover. 9 u- ]9 v0 h& G" ~/ j9 ~ 2 l) e* F# r5 @& q. u/ IChina has complained about U.S. plans to sell a batch of more than 400 missiles to Taiwan, but Gen. Pace said he had no details and didn't indicate whether the deal was mentioned in discussions.# w. e* K$ [5 A* [, ` \
, a" Y9 `, k# @7 DAsked about the possibility of a conflict over Taiwan, he said: “I believe there are good faith efforts among all the leadership to prevent that.” - n a' L( b( V' D$ E# o $ p* |% g; F) e9 Y4 NThe general didn't say how the Chinese officers responded to his calls for more transparency. China raised its military budget by 17.8 per cent this year to about $45-billion (U.S.) -- the biggest jump since 1995. The Pentagon says actual Chinese defence spending could be twice as high. 9 `# Z8 r6 J% b3 r: y+ [& Q+ e8 G5 v# o9 @
The spending boost and January's satellite test, in which China became only the third country to destroy an object in space by pulverizing one of its own unused satellites with a missile warhead, heightened the sense of unease in Washington over China's 2.3 million-member armed forces.* u9 `0 N4 x9 ]9 f( @! u
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Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace inspects the guard of honor during a welcome ceremony at the Defence Ministry in Beijing March 22, 2007.
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图片附件: [Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace] Pace.jpg (2007-3-24 09:32, 54.9 KB) / 下载次数 124