A delegation of about 30 mid-level Chinese military commanders will travel to California and Hawaii this week in the latest step by the US and China to repair military ties after the 2001 collision of a US spy plane and a Chinese military plane off China's coast.
People's Liberation Army (PLA) officers -- many of them division or brigade commanders -- are expected to visit a guided missile destroyer in San Diego, meet Marines at Camp Pendleton, California, and to call on US Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii.
The US military views the five-day tour, which started yesterday, as a way to demonstrate US capabilities and alleviate any fears China might have about US military might. US commanders also look forward to getting insights into how Chinese military leaders think through numerous discussions planned with the visitors.
"It's a great opportunity for us to talk directly with PLA officers, with senior, mid-grade PLA commanders. You just can't beat it," said US Army Lieutenant Colonel Roger Cavazos, senior China country director at the US Pacific Command.
"It's that direct interaction, that direct contact that really helps us allay mutual suspicions and move forward with this process of engaging and dealing more with the PLA," he said.
It is the third such visit by Chinese officers since US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his Chinese counterparts agreed last October to increase military exchanges. Earlier exchange programs all but froze after a US spy plane and Chinese fighter jet collided off China's coast in April 2001.
Bilateral military relations are still frosty.
In February, the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review said China had the greatest potential among major and emerging powers to compete militarily with the US. Many US officials are cautiously monitoring Beijing's decade-long double-digit defense spending increases, questioning what China plans to do with its newly acquired equipment.
In San Diego, the delegation will tour the USS Preble and be briefed on the ship's capabilities and mission. Marines at Camp Pendleton will display an amphibious assault vehicle and some weapons simulation training. In Hawaii, commanders will discuss humanitarian assistance missions.
Still, the visitors will not be treated to tours of everything they requested. An aircraft carrier is not on the itinerary, even though the Chinese asked to visit one and San Diego is the homeport for two of the ships. The US is also not fulfilling a request to see a Stryker armored vehicle.
That is because the US does not want to give Chinese commanders access to more of its military than US commanders have been given during visits to China.
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