Keating: U.S.-China military ties improving

[Squeezer]

I share the admiral's "cautious optimism" on this one.  The PLA is one army I really hope we never have to tangle with, because even I have no idea how to engage a sophisticated military of 2.3 million soldiers short of nuking their country to kingdom come...and they of course could lob some right back at us.

The part about Chinese military observing U.S. exercises and participating in U.S. training classes is a big deal, though, and demonstrates a big step forward in US-Sino military relations.  I guess the big test will be next time a spy plane crash-lands over there... 

Keating: U.S.-China military ties improving

By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Sep 16, 2009 9:54:55 EDT

Interaction between the U.S. and Chinese militaries remains difficult and delicate, but the outgoing chief of the U.S. Pacific Command said Tuesday that he is “cautiously optimistic” about the relationship’s current tone.

“The relationship with China is complex. It’s important. It can be occasionally kind of disconcerting, a little bit tough to figure out sometimes,” Adm. Timothy Keating, who retires later this year after 42 years in the Navy, told defense reporters in a breakfast roundtable in Washington. “I am cautiously optimistic that we’re getting where we want to be. It is going to be a long, important slog.”

Keating said the Chinese government suspended dialogue between militaries in October after the announcement of a sale of U.S. arms to Taiwan. That dialogue resumed this summer after several meetings with U.S. officials in China, possibly allowing better insight into their forces.

“They are building submarines. They’ve got some 65 submarines. They’ve got some relatively sophisticated air force assets. Their defense budget is apparently growing,” he said. “It is hardly transparent to us how much money they spend, much less what they’re spending that money on.”

In an effort to build better relations, and better understand Chinese intentions, Keating said their military has been invited to observe U.S. and joint exercises, attend U.S. training schools and participate in humanitarian exercises.

“As yet we don’t have any firm response,” he said. “The Chinese have sent some observers to some of our exercises, [such as] last year’s Cobra Gold, a big multilateral exercise in Thailand.”

Link: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/09/military_keating_pacific_command_091509w/

[JohnBrowdie]

I think the coming trade difficulties (tires, chicken, & etc) will screw up a lot of that.

and if "warming relations" with the chinese means abandoning taiwan, then I prefer them to not warm.  china could apply the pressure necessary to force north korea to not act like the drunk at the family reunion, but they refuse.  with just about every significant  opportunity presented to the chinese to improve or degrade overall US relations, they seem to consistently choose to degrade.

[Squeezer]

with just about every significant  opportunity presented to the chinese to improve or degrade overall US relations, they seem to consistently choose to degrade.

This is very true, but I've learned from being a USAF officer loaned out to a country whose president is a leftist America-basher and BFF of Hugo Chavez that political relations and military relations are two very different things.  The example out here that I like to give is that when Ecuador was all pissed off at Colombia because they crossed over into Ecuadorian soil while chasing FARC terrorists and blew them up in a shack within Ecuadorian borders, I was here working in the Ecuadorian Air Force's only transport wing, and we didn't do squat to mobilize or anything else.  In fact, we sent a helicopter fuselage to Bogota like a week after that happened because their military helps us with our helo repairs.  All while Hugo was doing his typical dance of sending troops to the border and trying to pressure Correa into doing the same.

Anyway, different region and all, but just pointing out that military ties and political ties can be FAR different, and good military liaisons understand that political leaders come and go and diplomatic ties warm and cool, but until said leaders give the order to march, there's no reason all of us in uniform can't just get along. 

[JohnBrowdie]

it looks like I am arguing with you, but I'm not.  I swear.    I ran across this and thought, "WTF, the outgoing USPACOM said almost the opposite thing just yesterday".

it makes me wonder about gates more than anything else.

China could undermine US military power in Pacific: Gates

China's increasingly advanced weaponry could undermine US military power in the Pacific, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday.

Echoing US intelligence guidelines released on Tuesday that warned of Beijing's military modernization, Gates said US naval carriers and air bases in the Pacific faced new threats from China.

"In fact, when considering the military-modernization programs of countries like China, we should be concerned less with their potential ability to challenge the US symmetrically -- fighter to fighter or ship to ship -- and more with their ability to disrupt our freedom of movement and narrow our strategic options," Gates said in a speech to the Air Force Association.

"Investments in cyber and anti-satellite warfare, anti-air and anti-ship weaponry, and ballistic missiles could threaten America's primary way to project power and help allies in the Pacific -- in particular our forward air bases and carrier strike groups," Gates said in National Harbor, Maryland.

The new threats meant long-range military aircraft would take on greater importance as the latest weaponry would "degrade the effectiveness of short-range fighters and put more of a premium on being able to strike from over the horizon -- whatever form that capability might take," he said.

Defense analysts have warned that the US military will soon lose its dominance on the high seas, in space and in cyberspace as China and other emerging powers obtain sophisticated weaponry and missiles.

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