Hong Kong – The commander of U.S. military forces in the Pacific and most of the Indian Ocean sounded a conciliatory note toward China on Sunday, calling for closer cooperation between the United States and Chinese militaries and an agreement about how to coordinate responses to natural disasters like the tsunami last Dec. 26.
While the United States and China have extensive political and economic contacts, “the military side of this thing has been lacking, and I think it’s time to change that,” said the U.S. commander, Adm. William Fallon, at a news conference here. He toured China over the past week, meeting with senior military officers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
The admiral’s remarks were especially noteworthy because he spoke as President Bush and President Hu Jintao of China prepared to meet Tuesday at the United Nations. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will visit Beijing next month.
Jin Canrong, the associate dean of the School of International Studies at People’s University in Beijing, said Fallon’s stance was likely to be welcomed by China.
“I think the Chinese side is eager to have normal military-to- military ties with the American Army,” he said.
Contacts between the U.S. and Chinese militaries abruptly stopped after a midair collision between a Chinese jet and a U.S. Navy reconnaissance aircraft near Hainan Island on April 1, 2001. But those contacts have gradually started to resume.
U.S. officials were increasingly critical of China this year regarding issues including the weakness of China’s currency, the yuan, and the scale of Chinese military spending.
Rumsfeld made headlines in June when he warned in a speech in Singapore that rising Chinese military spending posed a threat to regional stability in Asia. Fallon avoided broad statements Sunday, sticking to strictly military issues, and was loath to criticize China on those.
“The business of military expenditures is certainly something that is the business of the country involved,” he said. He also noted that China’s military needed to modernize in many areas.
Fallon said he believed that news coverage overemphasized Rumsfeld’s criticism of China. But he said he questioned China’s need for a large military.