Army leader to tour US military sites

Army leader to tour US military sites

By Peng Kuang and Li Xiaokun (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-24 09:35

The US military will give a tour of several sensitive military sites, including the strategic command headquarters in charge of nuclear weapons and cyber war, to a top Chinese military leader who will begin his visit there on Saturday, a senior Chinese military officer said.

Chinese military experts said the move by the Pentagon is a small but significant step to show sincerity to the Chinese military, which has been observed and questioned by the US military for years.

During the 11-day visit, vice-chairman of the People's Liberation Army's top command Xu Caihou will visit the Pacific Command, Strategic Command, several army and naval bases and a naval academy, said the director of the Defense Ministry's Foreign Affairs Office Qian Lihua in an interview on Friday with China Daily.

Xu will also meet US military and political leaders including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, he said.

"This is the first time for a leader of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China to visit the US under the Obama administration, and also the most important program in Sino-US military exchanges this year," Qian said, adding Xu will take Beijing's "concrete suggestions on the next step to develop relations between the two militaries."

Peng Guangqian, a Beijing-based senior military strategist, said Xu's visit is the first time for a Chinese military leader to visit the US Strategic Command.

Inviting Xu to visit the sensitive military sites is a signal that the US military is willing to promote mutual trust, said Major General Luo Yuan, a senior researcher with the Academy of Military Sciences.

But Qian on Friday also said ties between the two militaries are still under the shadow cast by the Pentagon's unfriendly moves toward China, ranging from the US Congress' restrictions on exchanges between the two armed forces in 12 areas, to frequent appearances of US planes and naval ships in China's exclusive economic zone.

"You'll notice that there are just one-way (military) visits, from US to China this year. That exposes some difficulties in relations between the two, which prevents the ties from turning to the normal level," he said.

Military exchanges between the two countries stopped in October 2008 following a massive US arms deal with Taiwan.

China has noticed a kind of sincerity from the US military since Obama took office, Qian said. But whether or not that momentum will last depends upon whether the US would "truly respect key interests and concerns of China."

He believed the only way to solve the problem is to strengthen dialogue and cooperation.

He also called for proper handle of sensitive issues, such as the Taiwan issue.

"We hope the new government advocating 'change' will adopt new thinking patterns, new perspectives and new methods" in dealing with relations with China, he said.

He also mentioned the "transparency" issue that the US always brings up, saying military transparency is based on mutual trust.

"China is totally transparent in strategic intention," he said. "But no country in the world is absolutely transparent in military as it's related to national security."

"The issue of transparency will not be settled until the issue of mutual trust is solved," he said.

So far transparency has become an excuse for putting limits on China, Peng said. "Now the discussion is not focused on transparency itself," he said.