According to a senior U.S. defense official present at their meeting, it was obvious when Gates asked Hu about the 15-minute test flight that neither China’s president nor the other Chinese civilians at the meeting had any knowledge of the event. But Gates played down the incident.
“I asked President Hu about it directly, and he said that the test had absolutely nothing to do with my visit and had been a pre-planned test, and that’s where we left it,” Gates told reporters in Beijing. “I take President Hu at his word that the test had nothing to do with my visit.”
Gates is on a mission to improve ties with the People’s Liberation Army, which suspended high-level contacts last January following a large U.S. arms sale to Taiwan. He has not been to China since 2007 and a previous attempt to come here – last June – was rebuffed by the PLA.
Western military officials have said China’s military was not happy about resuming high-level talks with the Pentagon and had been forced into welcoming Gates to Beijing because Hu is traveling to Washington next week for his second – and probably last – summit with President Obama.
Obama has said he wants to see better ties between the Pentagon and China’s military in order to avoid the miscalculation and misunderstandings that can lead to war. U.S. officials have also said they want to engage in a wide-ranging security dialogue with both civilian and military officials in China about the tremulous security situation in East Asia – especially on the Korean peninsula.
Gates on Tuesday further clarified that under his proposal, a new dialogue would bring together both PLA officers and Chinese civilian officials and their American counterparts.
The PLA is known to be uncomfortable with the idea of sharing the stage with officials from China’s foreign policy apparatus. In public statements during the Gates visit, PLA officers have been lukewarm to the U.S. proposals about dialogue.
On Monday, Defense Minister Liang Guanglie would only say that the PLA was “studying” the Gates idea, adding that the United States and China already have several security-related exchanges.
Despite the flight test, and Liang’s tepid reaction to his request, Gates said he was satisfied with the China visit
Liang on Tuesday announced that a senior Chinese officer, Cheng Bingde, the chief of the PLA’s general staff, will travel to Washington in the first half of this year. Liang also said the PLA would discuss cooperation and joint exercises with the U.S. military on counter-terrorism, counter-piracy and humanitarian and disaster relief.
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