【英语国际】美国希望与中国恢复高级别军事交流

The Pentagon is opening talks with China aimed at restarting stalled military relations, seeking to build a more sustainable relationship with the Chinese army to try to reduce tensions in the region and to address larger strategic concerns.

R. Michael Schiffer, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, hopes to start laying the groundwork for renewed high-level military exchanges during talks in Beijing Monday and Tuesday. The U.S. would like to improve coordination between the two countries' air and sea forces and to start establishing a more-permanent platform to discuss issues such as nuclear arms and ballistic-missile defenses in a bid to reduce the risk of misunderstanding.

One of the first exchanges under discussion could be a visit to the U.S. by Gen. Ma Xiaotian, China's deputy chief of general staff, this fall. 'These are simply very early discussions of possibilities,' a senior U.S. military official said.

A Chinese official in Washington confirmed the effort to restart bilateral military exchanges but declined to discuss next steps.

China broke off military-to-military contacts with the U.S. in January to protest Washington's decision to sell up to $6.4 billion in arms to Taiwan. Under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, the U.S. must help Taiwan with its defenses. But Beijing considers the island a renegade province and opposes any U.S. weapons sales to it.

Even if the two sides were to reach agreement on a sequence of confidence-building military exchanges in the coming months, U.S. officials played down the chances of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visiting China this year. China had invited Mr. Gates to visit Beijing this year but effectively suspended the offer after the Taiwan arms deal was announced.

The U.S. wants to see progress toward what a senior U.S. defense official called a 'framework' for a more sustainable relationship with China's People's Liberation Army, or PLA, to help ensure relations won't be frozen every time Beijing gets upset at Washington, whether over the next Taiwan arms sale or over tensions in the South China Sea.

The U.S. has voiced growing concern about disputes between China and several other Asian countries over sovereignty in the South China Sea. It has also sought to ease tensions between Japan and China following a row over a ship collision near islands claimed by both nations.

'We obviously don't have a structure and framework in place right now that is functional,' the defense official said. The goal is to have a relationship 'not just in good times but during times of friction and turbulence.'

Mr. Gates has singled out the PLA as the main obstruction in the way of improved bilateral relations. He has said its position was at odds with that of the country's political leadership, which Washington sees as supportive of closer military ties.

To avoid day-to-day operational mishaps, the U.S. wants both sides to fully implement an existing bilateral maritime agreement meant to govern how U.S. and Chinese military ships and aircraft communicate with each in international waters and airspace.

'I would offer that it hasn't been used to its fullest extent or as intended because of the on-again-off-again nature of the [military-to-military] relationship,' the senior defense official said. 'We've got empirical evidence that there's a real need for it given some of the incidents that we've had.'

The U.S. lodged protests with the Chinese government in March 2009 when the Pentagon said five Chinese ships, including a naval vessel, harassed the U.S. Navy ship Impeccable in the South China Sea.

The official said a more stable relationship could help reduce miscommunication and improve transparency, 'particularly given the opacity of China's current military modernization efforts.'

Even as U.S.-China trade and economic ties have grown, suspicions continue to run deep between the Pentagon and the PLA. Although China's nuclear arsenal remains much smaller than those of Russia or the U.S., a recent Pentagon report said 'the lack of transparency surrounding [China's] nuclear programs -- their pace and scope, as well as the strategy and doctrine that guides them -- raises questions about China's future strategic intentions.'

The Pentagon is also concerned about China's development of advanced ballistic-missile systems, including an antiship missile with a projected range of nearly 1,600 kilometers. Such a system could potentially reach Taiwan military and civilian targets as well as U.S. military installations and carriers in the region.

The senior defense official said the U.S. was prepared to engage the Chinese about their respective missile-defense efforts. Like Russia, China has expressed concerns that U.S. missile defenses undermine its own strategic capabilities and interests. As part of an exchange on the issue, the U.S. hopes China will 'provide us with some insight into their thinking about missile-defense issues and their activities in that arena,' the official said.

美国五角大楼正在与中国展开对话，旨在重新启动两国陷入僵局的军事关系，寻求与中国军队建立一个更加可持续性的关系，以缓解地区紧张局势，处理更为重要的战略关切。

美国国防部负责东亚事务的副助理部长薛迈龙(R. Michael Schiffer)希望为两国再度恢复高级别军事交流奠定基础，对话于周一和周二在北京举行。美国愿加强两国空军和海军协作，着手建立一个可以讨论核武器和弹道导弹防御等问题的更加持久的平台，以期减少双方可能产生的误解。

Associated Press中国解放军副总参谋长马晓天。目前尚在讨论的首次交流活动之一可能是中国解放军副总参谋长马晓天今年秋天访美一事。美国一位高级军事官员说，现在还只是对行程可能性的初步讨论。

一位中国官员在华盛顿证实了重新开始中美军事交流的努力，但是拒绝讨论下一步的动作计划。

1月，中国因抗议华盛顿向台湾出售价值64亿美元武器装备的决定中断了与美国的军事接触。根据1979年《台湾关系法》的规定，美国须在防务方面帮助台湾。北京反对美国对台湾的任何武器销售。

即使双方在未来几个月内能够就一系列建立信心的军事交流达成共识，美国官员对其国防部长盖茨(Robert Gates)今年访华的可能性却还是做了低调处理。中国今年邀请过盖茨访华，不过当美国宣布向台湾销售武器后，这一邀请事实上就处于搁置状态。

美国希望看到其一位高级防务官员所称的与中国人民解放军建立更加可持续性关系的“框架”方面的进步，这样就可确保双边关系不会每次因北京对华盛顿不满而冻结，无论不满的原因是下次美国向台售武还是南中国海的紧张局势问题。

美国已对中国和其它几个亚洲国家就南中国海的主权争端问题表达了日益增加的忧虑，也曾尝试缓解日本和中国在双方争议岛屿附近因撞船事件导致的紧张关系。

美国防务官员说，我们现在显然还没有一个行之有效的体系和框架，我们的目的是不仅在双方相处顺利时保持良好的军事关系，更要在碰到摩擦和动荡时保持这种关系。

盖茨指出解放军是改善美中关系的主要障碍。他曾说，中国军界立场与政界领导人不同，华盛顿认为后者对加强两国军事关系表示支持。

为避免日常操作出现意外，美国希望双方可以充分执行现有的双边海事协议，该协议的宗旨就是管控美中军舰和飞机在国际海域与空间的彼此沟通。

美方高级防务官员说，他认为双边海事协议没有发挥到极致，或没有发挥应有的作用，因为两国的军事关系总时断时续。他说，我们的直观经验表明，鉴于过去两国发生的一些事件，现在的确有必要(好好执行该协议)。

美国2009年3月向中国政府发出抗议，原因是五角大楼说，包括一艘海军军舰在内的五艘中国船只骚扰位于南中国海的美国“无暇号”军舰。

这位官员说，美中两国建立更加稳定的军事关系可有助于减少双方的沟通误区，提高透明度，若考虑到中国当前军事现代化的不透明问题，则更应如此。

虽然美中经贸联系不断扩大，但五角大楼与中国军方之间的猜忌却持续升温。尽管中国核武库规模相比俄罗斯或美国要小得多，但是近期五角大楼一份报告却说：关于中国核武计划的不透明性，即建设步伐、范围以及战略和指导方针等，让人对中国未来的战略意图心存疑虑。

五角大楼还对中国发展先进的弹道导弹系统表示担心，其中包括射程近1600公里的反舰导弹。这种导弹可直击台湾军事和民事目标，也可直击美国在亚太地区的军事装备和航空母舰。

这位高级防务官员称，美国打算对中国不同的导弹防御努力加以理解。跟俄罗斯一样，中国也曾对美国各种导弹防御部署损害其本国战略能力和利益表达过担忧。他说，作为军事交流内容的一部分，美国希望中国能提供一些思路给我们，让我们了解中国对导弹防御问题及防御部署的想法。