US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates left for Beijing on Saturday to air US misgivings about the direction China is taking with a military buildup that this year featured an alarming anti-satellite test.
Gates is also scheduled to visit South Korea and Japan during the week-long trip. He will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (
The US side is hoping the Chinese will agree to establish a telephone hotline linking the Pentagon and Chinese defense ministry as a mark of improving security ties, a senior defense official said.
But on his first trip to China as defense secretary, Gates also has basic questions for Chinese leaders about where they are taking the world's most populous country, as well as specific concerns such as the Jan. 11 anti-satellite test, the official said.
"We're still looking for the kind of response from the Chinese that really helps us understand why they did it," the official said of the anti-satellite test.
China kept silent for nearly two weeks after the test, finally confirming reports that it had used a ballistic missile to destroy one of its own weather satellites in low Earth orbit.
Gates said last month that the test had exposed vulnerabilities of US space systems to attack.
US experts have said China may be developing the capability with an eye to "blinding" the US military in the early days of a conflict over Taiwan.
In August, a senior US military official said China may be capable of disrupting US military communications satellites in a conflict within three years.
"What was the purpose of it? Was it just to do a test for the fun of it? That doesn't make a lot of sense," said the US official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
"There are definitely larger strategic issues involved here. Understanding those is still is something that in our view needs some serious discussion from the Chinese that we haven't seen yet," he said.
China's cyber warfare capabilities are another broad area of concern, the official said.
The Financial Times, citing unnamed current and former US officials, said a cyber attack in June that temporarily shut down a computer system serving the office of the US defense secretary was traced to the People's Liberation Army.
The US defense official said Iran also could come up in Gates' talks. China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has opposed further sanctions against Iran.
"We think China can do more on Iran," the official said.
Washington also has problems with Chinese conventional arms sales to Iran, which have found their way into countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It's clear evidence that the Chinese can't trust Iran to behave responsibly with any weapons that they sell," the official said.
Gates also is expected to raise questions about the accelerating pace and scope of China's military modernization program, a persistent irritant in US-Chinese relations for several years.
The Defense Intelligence Agency estimates Chinese military spending this year to be US$125 billion, well beyond China's US$45 billion official defense budget.
"It's what is the role they plan to play in the world, how do they plan to play it, and especially what does their military buildup mean for us and the rest of the region. Those are the subjects we are going to be talking about," the US defense official said.
From Beijing, Gates travels to South Korea and Japan for talks that the official described as exercises in alliance building.
Security relations with South Korea have improved amid a realignment of US forces on the peninsula, he said.
In Japan, Gates will seek support for a resumption of a Japanese naval refueling operation in support of coalition "war on terror" operations in the Indian Ocean.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS