U.S. MILITARY'S "WARMING" TIES WITH COMMUNIST CHINA
January 14, 2004
By Toby Westerman
Copyright 2004 International News Analysis Today
www.inatoday.com
U.S. Air Force General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, is on a two day visit to China - a mission which the Chinese describe as "high profile" and of "great importance" to both Washington and Beijing.
Myers' visit has highly significant military overtones for the Chinese.
Li Lhaoxing, China's Foreign Minister, declared that the visit of the top U.S. military officer "will promote the health development of bilateral military relations," according to a recent report from Radio China International, the official broadcasting service of the Peoples Republic of China.
Beijing and Washington will "enhance the military understanding" between their respective armed forces, and will "reach for a broad consensus," yet the term "consensus" is left undefined.
Radio China International characterized Myers' trip
as a "sign of warming military relations" between the
two nations.
The degree of warmth between U.S. armed forces and the People's Liberation Army is anyone's guess.
China's Defense Minister, Cao Gangchuan, who invited Myers to Beijing following Cao's visit to Washington, has a long history of attempting to arm enemies of the United States.
Cao is suspected of attempting to supply missile technology and hardware to Iran, Iraq, Syria, and North Korea, seeking to build a nuclear weapons plant in Algeria, arms to Libya, and supply germ-warfare equipment to Iran, according to the Washington Times.
One benefit China may be seeking from the "warming" relations with the U.S. military is undoubtedly an increased access to American high technology. Beijing has made no secret of its desire to acquire the best of U.S. technology.
The growing closeness between the U.S. military and the Peoples Liberation Army occurs as Beijing is greatly increasing the sophistication of its armed forces, and the democratically ruled island of Taiwan is bracing for an all-out attack from the Chinese mainland.
Any attack from China would include a barrage of some 400 missiles already aimed at the island, as well as a probable "cyberwar" attack.
An increasingly sophisticated Chinese military machine could easily form a threat to America's position and influence in the Pacific, a prospect even U.S. defense planners have recognized.
As relations between the Chinese and U.S. armed forces continue "warming," the U.S. faces the devastating prospect that any assistance to Beijing - given in good faith -- could come back to the U.S. as advanced, hostile weapons claiming the lives of possibly thousands of American service personnel.
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