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PLA unlikely to stop
US arms sales: analyst
By William Lowther / Staff reporter in WASHINGTON
General Chen Bingde (³¯¬±¼w), chief of the general staff of the People¡¦s Liberation
Army (PLA), is highly unlikely to fully achieve the goal of ending US arms sales
to Taiwan during his visit to the US this week, but could nevertheless make some
headway, an analyst said.
Dean Cheng (¦¨Ùy), a research fellow on Chinese political and security affairs at
the Heritage Foundation¡¦s Asian Studies Center, said in a paper published on
Tuesday that Chen¡¦s visit was ¡§significant.¡¨
In addition to ending arms sales to Taiwan, Cheng said Chen also wanted to end
or reduce US air and naval surveillance operations off China¡¦s coast and end
sanctions on sales of advanced technology to Beijing.
¡§Perhaps the Chinese side is chasing impossible goals,¡¨ Cheng said. ¡§Yet, one is
left wondering why the [US] has still made no move to meet Taiwan¡¦s legitimate
defense needs ¡X most notably by making available the new F-16C/D and F-16A/B
upgrades they have expressed interest in.¡¨
¡§One can only wonder whether Chen¡¦s visit will further delay Taiwan arms sales
to the detriment of Taipei¡¦s security. If so, the Chinese will have achieved one
real goal in exchange for promises of future meetings,¡¨ he said.
Chen and seven other PLA generals arrived in the US on Sunday and will stay for
one week.
Aside from visits to Washington, Los Angeles and the Grand Canyon, the Chinese
delegation will hold talks with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral
Mike Mullen, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and US Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
It has been seven years since a US chairman of the Joint Chiefs met with his
four-star Chinese counterpart.
The Washington Post has reported that the Pentagon was portraying the visit as a
¡§breakthrough¡¨ in its attempts to resume military relations with China, which
¡§Beijing angrily severed early last year¡¨ after US President Barack Obama
announced a US$6 billion arms deal with Taiwan.
US military officials have told the Post they were not ¡§kowtowing to the
Chinese¡¨ and that their primary objective was to open basic lines of
communication with the PLA.
Otherwise, they said, there was a risk that small security conflicts in the
Pacific region could quickly ¡§balloon into major crises.¡¨
Insiders have told the Taipei Times that, for its part, China is making arms
sales to Taiwan the central issue of the visit.
¡§When you see all the Chinese talking points ¡X about mutual respect and benefits
¡X they all come back to ¡¥Don¡¦t sell arms to Taiwan.¡¦ So in some ways, it¡¦s nice
and simple,¡¨ Cheng said.
Chen¡¦s military position means that he ultimately has responsibility for the
development of war plans and control of PLA operations in the event of war,
Cheng said, adding that the US and China had very different views of the purpose
of military-to-military contacts.
While the US side seeks to create rules and norms in order to make the two
sides¡¦ actions more predictable, the Chinese want to tackle strategic issues
such as US relations with Taiwan.
¡§The US remains the strongest power in the Asia-Pacific region and it loses
nothing by being willing to engage, but it should never sacrifice support for
friends and allies or abandon its principles in deference to a robust US-China
meeting schedule,¡¨ Cheng said.
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