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China postpones some military exchanges with US

By Adam Entous | Reuters

A paramilitary policeman practises during a daily training session at the Forbidden City in Beijing on 1 February 2010. China has postponed several high-level exchanges between US and Chinese military leaders since Washington angered Beijing.File photo/Reuters/Jason Lee/China

China has postponed several high-level exchanges between US and Chinese military leaders since Washington angered Beijing by announcing a $6.4 billion arms package for Taiwan, US officials said on Tuesday.

The Pentagon has sought to play down the tension over the arms sale, describing Beijing’s response so far as limited in scope, and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said he still plans to visit China later this year.

China has postponed planned visits to the United States by its chief of the General Staff, as well as by one of its top regional military commanders, Pentagon officials said when asked about Beijing’s retaliatory actions.

A planned visit to China by the commander of the US Pacific Command has also been put off.

“There are other, as yet unscheduled, events the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is not considering for the time being,” a Pentagon official said.

But she added: “Nothing has been formally cancelled.”

In addition to scaling back security relations, China said it would sanction US firms that sell weapons to Taiwan.

But Pentagon officials and other observers in Washington pointed to signs Beijing wanted to keep a lid on tensions, and a Chinese military expert quoted in a Hong Kong newspaper appeared to echo those views.

Earlier this month, China allowed a US aircraft carrier to berth in Hong Kong, a former British colony and now a self-administered territory under Chinese control.

China has sometimes barred US navy ships from stopping at Hong Kong during times of tension, including in 2007, when the USS Kitty Hawk was denied entry.

Wang Xinjun, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, a top institute of the People’s Liberation Army, said Beijing’s decision to allow the latest aircraft carrier visit showed China did not want tensions to spread.

“This move showed China has responded to the US provocations with reason and restraint,” Wang told the Ta Kung Pao, a Chinese-language Hong Kong newspaper run by the mainland. “Although China-US military ties are experiencing difficulties, and a breakthrough seems hard to find, we have reason to have confidence in the future of those ties,” Wang said in an interview with the paper published on Wednesday.

Tensions flared up again last week when US President Barack Obama held a low-key meeting at the White House with the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled leader. Beijing accused Washington of damaging ties but did not announce any broader retaliation.

When asked what actions China has taken to curb military-to-military contacts, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said: “We haven’t noticed anything significant.”

A Pentagon official said later it was “still early to speculate” on whether the row could affect other military engagements.

“The PRC (People’s Republic of China) routinely uses our military to military relationship to express displeasure. Nevertheless, we are committed to maintaining a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship with China,” she said.

Copyright © 2010 Reuters

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