Tuesday, May 31, 2011
U.S. way ahead: Chinese General
From The Hindu
A top Chinese General visiting Washington this week has said Chinese military capacity does not match up to the sophistication of the United States' military equipment.
Possibly seeking to water down recent calls in the U.S. for more transparency in Chinese military capabilities, Chief of General Staff of the People's Liberation Army General Chen Bingde said American claims of Chinese military capabilities were exaggerated.
No challenge
“I can tell you that China does not have the capability to challenge the U.S.,” said General Chen, adding that China's efforts to enhance its national defence and military capabilities after rapid growth in economic power was “compensatory in nature”.
The General also said “China's efforts to enhance... military capabilities is mainly targeted at separatist forces ... who have attempted to split Taiwan away from China.” He denied China had targeted its missiles at Taiwan, saying “it amounts to only garrison deployment”, according to the American Forces Press Service.
General Chen said he was surprised by the sophistication of U.S. military equipment, the AFPS reported, while his counterpart here, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, said maintaining senior military-to-military relations would help shed light on mutual capabilities. Both officials announced following two days of talks here that they had agreed they would “move their militaries, and respective countries, closer together”.
At a joint briefing with General Chen, Admiral Mullen said: “It has always been my view that we cannot wait until we are in a crisis to understand each other”.
While General Chen echoed Admiral Mullen's call for mutual respect between the countries he added: “We shared a broad consensus on some major issues... Certainly, we also disagree on some other issues.”
The meeting between the two countries' military's top brass comes after discussions, earlier this year, between Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President Barack Obama and also between U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Chinese leaders in Beijing.
Some of those meetings had, however, revealed frictions; particularly the discussion between Mr. Gates and Chinese Minister of National Defence General Liang Guanglie. After their talks Mr. Liang commented upon the U.S.' arms sales to Taiwan last year, following which Beijing broke off military-to-military contact with Washington. “We are against it, because the U.S. arms sales to Taiwan seriously damaged China's core interests,” he had said.
However, in a possible indication that tensions have abated, Admiral Mullen and General Chen this week said they had agreed to naval exchanges including joint counter-piracy and other exercises in the Gulf of Aden.
A top Chinese General visiting Washington this week has said Chinese military capacity does not match up to the sophistication of the United States' military equipment.
Possibly seeking to water down recent calls in the U.S. for more transparency in Chinese military capabilities, Chief of General Staff of the People's Liberation Army General Chen Bingde said American claims of Chinese military capabilities were exaggerated.
No challenge
“I can tell you that China does not have the capability to challenge the U.S.,” said General Chen, adding that China's efforts to enhance its national defence and military capabilities after rapid growth in economic power was “compensatory in nature”.
The General also said “China's efforts to enhance... military capabilities is mainly targeted at separatist forces ... who have attempted to split Taiwan away from China.” He denied China had targeted its missiles at Taiwan, saying “it amounts to only garrison deployment”, according to the American Forces Press Service.
General Chen said he was surprised by the sophistication of U.S. military equipment, the AFPS reported, while his counterpart here, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, said maintaining senior military-to-military relations would help shed light on mutual capabilities. Both officials announced following two days of talks here that they had agreed they would “move their militaries, and respective countries, closer together”.
At a joint briefing with General Chen, Admiral Mullen said: “It has always been my view that we cannot wait until we are in a crisis to understand each other”.
While General Chen echoed Admiral Mullen's call for mutual respect between the countries he added: “We shared a broad consensus on some major issues... Certainly, we also disagree on some other issues.”
The meeting between the two countries' military's top brass comes after discussions, earlier this year, between Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President Barack Obama and also between U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Chinese leaders in Beijing.
Some of those meetings had, however, revealed frictions; particularly the discussion between Mr. Gates and Chinese Minister of National Defence General Liang Guanglie. After their talks Mr. Liang commented upon the U.S.' arms sales to Taiwan last year, following which Beijing broke off military-to-military contact with Washington. “We are against it, because the U.S. arms sales to Taiwan seriously damaged China's core interests,” he had said.
However, in a possible indication that tensions have abated, Admiral Mullen and General Chen this week said they had agreed to naval exchanges including joint counter-piracy and other exercises in the Gulf of Aden.
Labels: Chinese General, military capacity, U.S.
# posted by Narayan Lakshman @ 4:56 PM 
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
