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U.S.-China Seek Closer Military Ties, Agree on Taiwan William F. Jasper The United States seeks deeper ties with the communist regime in Beijing. Follow this link to the original source: "China, U.S. enhance understanding, trust in military ties" Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was in Beijing recently to meet with his counterpart, Chinese Defense Minister and Peoples Liberation Army General Cao Gangchuan. He also met with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Secretary Gates said on November 5 in Beijing that he and General Cao had "reached broad consensus" and had "discussed ways to build on positive momentum in our defense relations." They agreed, he said, to set up a direct telephone "hotline," as well as to increase exchanges between their defense establishments, military schools and young officers, and to hold joint humanitarian and disaster relief exercises. However, Secretary Gates made little progress on issues such as U.S. calls for Beijing to lift the veil of secrecy that shrouds details of its spending on the People’s Liberation Army. He also failed to win any new insights into China’s surprise test of an anti-satellite weapon in January.
"With respect to the anti-satellite test, I raised our concerns about it and there was no further discussion," Gates said. The day before his meeting with Cao, Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is also chairman of Communist China’s Central Military Commission, told the officers of China’s strategic missile troops to improve themselves "quickly and well." The missile force "has speeded up its modernization process and fulfilled the tasks assigned by the Party and people very well in recent years," said Hu, but he urged them to fully grasp the essence of the recently concluded 17th Chinese Communist National Congress and "spare no efforts" to fulfill their tasks. On another thorny issue, the Chinese press reported that Gates assured Hu "the U.S. government is opposed to any move by Taiwan authorities toward independence." "I restated our position that we're opposed to any efforts by anyone to unilaterally change the status quo," Gates told reporters after his talks with Hu. "I basically reiterated that the U.S. government has been quite clear in its messages to Taiwan not to change the status quo." Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian is pushing for a referendum next year on UN membership in the name of Taiwan, which Beijing considers as a move toward de jure independence. General Cao did not mince words about the PLA’s intention to use military force to prevent such a move. "The Chinese government will act in accordance with the 'Anti-Secession' law to take any necessary actions to maintain the unification of the country and safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits [sic]," he said.
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