With China, Fallon plans to renew military exchanges that have been curtailed since a Chinese fighter plane collided with a US EP-3 reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea in 2001. The Chinese pilot died and the American crew landed on the island of Hainan.
The admiral was said to be interested in inviting upper middle grade officers, army colonels and navy captains, to observe US military exercises as a way to establish contact with the next generation of Chinese military leaders. Moreover, demonstrating US capabilities would be a form of deterrence.
In return, the Pacific Command hopes to overcome a shortcoming of the past even when military exchanges were routine, which was that US officers were not permitted to watch Chinese maneuvers.
Politically, the US officers said, Taipei should be persuaded that it must do more to prepare to defend itself. Beijing should be reassured that US actions are neither a prelude to an attack nor an effort to speed Taiwanese independence. And Washington is split among those who advocate forging working relations with Beijing and those who see China as the new evil empire.
Keeping all this in balance and moving forward will not be easy.
Richard Halloran is a writer based in Hawaii.
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