US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Saturday voiced concern over China’s latest high-tech weaponry and called for improving uneasy military relations with Beijing to help defuse tensions.
Speaking to reporters en route to Beijing for three days of talks, Gates said China appeared to have made more progress in building its first stealth fighter jet than previously thought and that an anti-ship missile posed a potential threat to the US military.
“They clearly have the potential to put some of our capabilities at risk. And we have to pay attention to them; we have to respond appropriately with our own programs,” Gates said.
However, he said the advances in weaponry underlined the importance of building a dialogue with the Chinese military and said his visit starting yesterday would hopefully lay the ground for deeper defense ties with Asia’s rising power.
“My hope is that through the strategic dialogue that I’m talking about that maybe the need for some of these capabilities is reduced,” Gates said.
With Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) due in Washington for a pivotal state visit on Wednesday next week, both sides are anxious to show progress in defense ties, which China has repeatedly suspended over US arms sales to Taiwan.
“It’s pretty clear the Chinese wanted me to come before President Hu visits Washington,” Gates said. “My own view is a positive, constructive, comprehensive relationship between the United States and China is not just in the mutual interests of the two countries, it’s in the interest of everybody in the region and I would say across the globe.”
Days before the US defense chief’s highly symbolic trip, photographs appeared showing a prototype of China’s first stealth fighter, the J-20, at an airfield in the southwest.
“We knew they were working on a stealth aircraft,” Gates said when asked about the warplane.
“What we’ve seen is they may be somewhat further along in the development of that aircraft than our intelligence had predicted,” he said.
Gates also said he had been concerned about China’s pursuit of “anti-ship, cruise and ballistic missiles ever since I took this job” four years ago.
He also said the development of China’s anti-ship missile was at an advanced stage, but it was unclear if the weapon was fully operational.
Because of the potential threat posed by Chinese missiles and other hardware, Gates said his proposed defense budget unveiled on Thursday placed a priority on technology designed to counter “anti-access” weapons.
The proposed Pentagon budget for next year calls for funding a new long-range nuclear bomber, electronic jamming devices for the navy, improvements to radar for F-15 fighters, a satellite launch vehicle and an unmanned naval “strike-and-surveillance aircraft.”
Although China may be years away from fielding fully-capable anti-ship missiles or warplanes, analysts say it is gaining ground and that the country’s military leaders are displaying an increasingly assertive stance.
Aware of the Asian power’s growing economic and military might, the US has for years appealed to China to back a more “durable” dialogue — similar to US-Soviet exchanges during the Cold War — to avoid miscalculations.
China has instead opted to break ties in order to register its displeasure with Washington, particularly over billions of dollars in weapons deals to Taiwan.
Gates, who last visited China in 2007, has yet to persuade Beijing to embrace a permanent military dialogue and acknowledged that top leaders would likely raise the issue of weapons sales to Taiwan during the trip.
However, the Pentagon chief, who is due to meet Hu as well as his Chinese counterpart, Chinese Minister of National Defense Liang Guanglie (梁光烈), said he had realistic expectations.
“I think this is evolutionary and particularly the military-to-military side,” Gates said. “And so rather than something dramatic ... I think just getting some things started would be a positive outcome.”
Gates also said China has helped ease a crisis on the Korean Peninsula after Pyongyang shelled a South Korean island.
“We recognize that China played a constructive role in lessening tensions on the peninsula in the latter part of last year,” Gates told reporters.
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