The Pentagon's military-exchange program with China for 2010 was canceled earlier this year because of Beijing's anger at arms sales to Taiwan, and military ties remain in deep freeze after the unusually combative exchange in Singapore last week between a Chinese general and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.
A senior Chinese general at the security conference June 4 confronted Mr. Gates and stated that China was not to blame for the differences and blamed the United States for turning China into an enemy through the arms sales to Taiwan.
Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, director of China's National Defense University, a frequent stop for U.S. military visitors, made the unusual public attack on the United States at the Singapore conference, stating that U.S. arms sales, totaling more than $12 billion since 2008, are meant "to prevent the unification of China."
An annual Pentagon report to Congress on military exchanges with China's People's Liberation Army reveals that the Chinese military has been granted access to U.S. military expertise despite a legal prohibition on exchanges that could bolster Beijing's power projection capabilities.
The exchanges also provided Chinese military visitors with a look at key strategic communications, logistics and supply capabilities, management methods and tactical combat operations, as well as nuclear policy and strategy, according to a review of the programs.
The most recent list of recent military exchanges revealed a planned increase in the program from 35 visits and meetings in 2008 to 85 in 2009.
Still, China reacted harshly twice in recent years to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan by cutting off military ties, first in October 2008, when exchanges were halted for four months to protest U.S. defensive arms sales to Taiwan. A few exchanges resumed in 2009, but China's military again raised tensions with the U.S. military through a series of naval encounters the Pentagon called provocations involving Chinese ships harassing U.S. naval survey vessels in the open seas.
In January, the Chinese government abruptly canceled military meetings in response to the announced sale of $6.4 billion in U.S. defensive weapons to Taiwan, despite the fact that the intention to sell the defense goods had been made public years earlier.
The military-exchange program with China was launched in the mid-1980s as an outgrowth of the tacit alliance against the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s. That ended with the Chinese military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Military exchanges were not restored until the administration of President Clinton in the mid-1990s. After that, exchanges expanded rapidly.
Congress stepped in to restrict the exchanges in 1999. Sen. Robert C. Smith, New Hampshire Republican, and Republican Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of California and Dan Burton of Indiana drafted legislation that passed in 2000 Defense Authorization Act limiting PLA access to key U.S. defense facilities. The aim was to prevent the exchange program from being used to build up Chinese forces.
It listed more than 10 categories that were off limits to Chinese military visitors, including force projection, advanced combined arms and joint combat operations, advanced logistics surveillance and reconnaissance operations, joint war fighting and other activities related to transformation in warfare.
Some analysts have questioned the exchanges. Randall Shriver, a former official with the Defense and State departments and chief executive of the Project 2049 Institute, told a congressional China commission that the exchanges are not working.
John Tkacik, a former State Department specialist on China and Taiwan, said it is naive to think the exchanges will influence Chinese military behavior. "Members of the PLA who interact with foreign forces are well trained to be absolutely loyal to the government's positions and strictly disseminate the party line on issues such as peaceful intention of their massive military buildup and their right to coerce 'unification' with Taiwan," he said. (Source: Al Santoli, Washington Times, Jun 10, 2010).