! q1 l* \0 {4 K5 FU.S. general says Beijing 'hotline' possible 1 l0 h5 w `/ i" W6 `8 N" G; @! u! U) Y' _
BEIJING — 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. % D# g2 L4 v6 ^# r* O) p' h ) P/ s2 j% B) v8 e; JHowever, 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. + b& G7 C! f# Q1 K5 c * O! e: H. M. R! S, E% p“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.; X1 S" x4 F; ]
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Gen. 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.: l0 i* F/ E {; Q0 J4 q- d1 H
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“To me this was a very good, open discussion and one that I found very encouraging,” Gen. Pace told reporters in Beijing. 1 E; {# y; Q3 I2 n" l% S* ?# P) d2 j
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.”) i" Q3 U0 w0 F! |) T6 k
( B3 L' ]: o4 q, N, w7 b: _/ BMilitary 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. 7 |" I' ~( \/ q& G# j& _. v0 q : W" D* G. u! T# \) A4 JDuring 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. 6 r' q7 v4 u- S2 G ' Y- b" p8 }3 t& @/ h; HGen. 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.* B% h0 D4 u; y$ C6 {$ H
/ |. ^0 `$ M ?8 Y e“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.* m, O9 r1 M( V E" z
z3 ~+ z; g; I7 b1 X) @Deep 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., L6 m& o6 U2 n4 A3 {! L
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China 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.. H8 y. M+ Y, P4 ]' S8 a: |, }) N
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Asked about the possibility of a conflict over Taiwan, he said: “I believe there are good faith efforts among all the leadership to prevent that.”4 A# T( l: O9 e0 ~- [2 z4 n
. ]: |' [% {1 o$ p. c' o" n/ v KThe 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 $45-billion (U.S.) -- the biggest jump since 1995. The Pentagon says actual Chinese defence spending could be twice as high. ( F' O$ {5 L8 r0 ^. y! M) k3 t3 i$ T$ F% d7 [; W" {
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.8 S; ^' k; ]* U- X( u$ e) v6 w
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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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