Ban on military talks lifted
来源：百度文库 编辑：神马文学网 时间：2024/10/02 20:31:47
08:23, October 12, 2010
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Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie (R) shakes hands with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates while meeting the press together in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, October 11, 2010, on the sidelines of the 1st ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus). (Photo:Xinhua)
Marred by a series of disputes over the past year, military relations between China and the US showed signs of thawing Monday when Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie apparently ended a ban on military-level talks with the US by inviting his counterpart there, Robert Gates, to China.
Guan Youfei, deputy director of the external affairs office of China's Ministry of Defense, told reporters in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam, that Gates had accepted the invitation to visit next year.
The invitation came during a meeting Monday between Liang and Gates on the side-lines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) being held in Hanoi.
Chinese analysts said Monday that the meeting marks the resumption of the two countries' military ties and an attempt by both sides to test each other's bottom line over the South China Sea issue.
During the meeting, Liang said military ties constitute an important part of bilateral ties. Currently, the two countries are facing some obstacles in developing military relations, with US arms sales to Taiwan being the main source of tension.
The meeting was the first between the two countries' top military officials in nearly nine months, after Beijing halted military exchanges following Washington's announcement in January of a $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan.
Liang said it is important for the US and China to respect and care for each other's core interests and major concerns, continuously consolidate strategic mutual trust, decrease suspicion and misjudgment, and properly settle differences and sensitive issues in order to keep bilateral military ties developing story in a continuous and stable way.
"The meeting between Liang and Gates can be viewed as the official resumption of military relations between Beijing and Washington following almost a year-long standoff," Yuan Peng, director for the Institute of American Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations said.
"Their meeting will pave the way for the US-China Defense Consultative Talks and the re-establishment of a communication mechanism between the two countries," he said.
Shortly before the meeting with Liang, Gates was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that disputes in the South China Sea - also a source of contention - should be resolved peacefully through negotiations.
"We don't take sides in this," Gates said in Hanoi. "We don't have any territorial claims of our own."
Sun Xiaoying, a researcher on Southeast Asia with the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, said that the US' interference in the South China Sea is a strategy to test China's bottom line.
"Repeated calls by the US for free navigation in the sea are aimed at building a ring of encirclement to contain China on the sea. However, the Obama administration is still working out its future action plan because it is not clear about China's bottom line," he said.
Relations between Beijing and Washington have also soured over US-South Korea military exercises in the Yellow Sea, as well as the US' support for Southeast Asian countries' territorial claims in the South China Sea.
In July, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at an ASEAN conference in Hanoi that the US had a national interest in the South China Sea, drawing criticism from Beijing.
But signs that ties between Beijing and Washington may be thawing began appearing last month in the form of high-profile visits by Pentagon and White House officials to Beijing.
By Song Shengxia, Global Times
【1】 【2】
U.S. defense secretary invited to visit China early next year
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US may lift Chinese arms embargo
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U.S. reaffirms commitment to deepen ties with China
US passes bill to press Chinese currency
WTO rules China win over US imports dispute
S Korea, DPRK agree to hold military talks Thursday
US business fears 'downward spiral' in China trade
U.S. House panel passes China currency bill
Email | Print | Subscribe | Comments | Forum
Increases the bookmark
Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie (R) shakes hands with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates while meeting the press together in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, October 11, 2010, on the sidelines of the 1st ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus). (Photo:Xinhua)
Marred by a series of disputes over the past year, military relations between China and the US showed signs of thawing Monday when Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie apparently ended a ban on military-level talks with the US by inviting his counterpart there, Robert Gates, to China.
Guan Youfei, deputy director of the external affairs office of China's Ministry of Defense, told reporters in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam, that Gates had accepted the invitation to visit next year.
The invitation came during a meeting Monday between Liang and Gates on the side-lines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) being held in Hanoi.
Chinese analysts said Monday that the meeting marks the resumption of the two countries' military ties and an attempt by both sides to test each other's bottom line over the South China Sea issue.
During the meeting, Liang said military ties constitute an important part of bilateral ties. Currently, the two countries are facing some obstacles in developing military relations, with US arms sales to Taiwan being the main source of tension.
The meeting was the first between the two countries' top military officials in nearly nine months, after Beijing halted military exchanges following Washington's announcement in January of a $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan.
Liang said it is important for the US and China to respect and care for each other's core interests and major concerns, continuously consolidate strategic mutual trust, decrease suspicion and misjudgment, and properly settle differences and sensitive issues in order to keep bilateral military ties developing story in a continuous and stable way.
"The meeting between Liang and Gates can be viewed as the official resumption of military relations between Beijing and Washington following almost a year-long standoff," Yuan Peng, director for the Institute of American Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations said.
"Their meeting will pave the way for the US-China Defense Consultative Talks and the re-establishment of a communication mechanism between the two countries," he said.
Shortly before the meeting with Liang, Gates was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that disputes in the South China Sea - also a source of contention - should be resolved peacefully through negotiations.
"We don't take sides in this," Gates said in Hanoi. "We don't have any territorial claims of our own."
Sun Xiaoying, a researcher on Southeast Asia with the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, said that the US' interference in the South China Sea is a strategy to test China's bottom line.
"Repeated calls by the US for free navigation in the sea are aimed at building a ring of encirclement to contain China on the sea. However, the Obama administration is still working out its future action plan because it is not clear about China's bottom line," he said.
Relations between Beijing and Washington have also soured over US-South Korea military exercises in the Yellow Sea, as well as the US' support for Southeast Asian countries' territorial claims in the South China Sea.
In July, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at an ASEAN conference in Hanoi that the US had a national interest in the South China Sea, drawing criticism from Beijing.
But signs that ties between Beijing and Washington may be thawing began appearing last month in the form of high-profile visits by Pentagon and White House officials to Beijing.
By Song Shengxia, Global Times
【1】 【2】
U.S. defense secretary invited to visit China early next year
China emerges as a scapegoat in US electoral campaigns
US may lift Chinese arms embargo
S Korea, DPRK wrap up military talks without progress
U.S. reaffirms commitment to deepen ties with China
US passes bill to press Chinese currency
WTO rules China win over US imports dispute
S Korea, DPRK agree to hold military talks Thursday
US business fears 'downward spiral' in China trade
U.S. House panel passes China currency bill