US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates yesterday called for an international approach to resolving territorial disputes in the Pacific, despite China’s opposition to any multilateral deal brokered by Washington.
In remarks that appeared aimed at China, Gates said that “increasingly, we find that relying exclusively on bilateral relationships is not enough — we need multilateral institutions in order to confront the most important security challenges in the region.”
Key issues in Asia, including “territorial disputes,” could best be solved through “strong multilateral cooperation,” he said in a speech to military officers at Vietnam National University in Hanoi.
China favors handling the South China Sea issue bilaterally with individual claimants, while ASEAN members have called for negotiations on a “code of conduct” for all nations.
Gates, who is in Hanoi for the ASEAN defense ministers conference, said that Southeast Asian countries “sit astride key global trade routes,” and reiterated the US view on the importance of ensuring unfettered, safe access for global shipping.
“The US and Vietnam, as well as other nations in the region, also share a common interest in maritime security and freedom of access to the global commons,” he said.
Gates’ speech came hours before he met Chinese Minister of National Defense General Liang Guanglie (梁光烈) in the first talks between the two nations’ top defense officials in about a year.
Gates has urged China to support a more reliable military dialogue that would not be “held hostage” to every disagreement over US policy.
Again without naming China, Gates spoke about the need to move beyond outlooks mired in the Cold War. He called for “discarding Cold War ways of thinking about US defense strategy and Asia’s overall security architecture — a mindset that doesn’t reflect the past few decades’ tremendous challenges.”
After his meeting with Liang, the US secretary said he had been invited to visit China and he had accepted, although the timing of the trip had to be worked out. He said the talks were “constructive” and represented “a good forward step.”
However, a senior Chinese official said after the meeting that Taiwan was the greatest hurdle in Sino-US defense ties.
“There still exists problems and obstacles in the development of military relations between China and the US, as pointed out by both [defense] secretaries,” said Rear Admiral Guan Youfei (關友飛), deputy head of external relations at China’s defense ministry.
“The biggest obstacle in defense relations between the US and China is US arms sales to Taiwan,” Guan said.
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