SINGAPORE: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates expressed disappointment on Thursday at China’s decision to call off his planned visit, saying the country’s military was reluctant to engage in dialogue with the US.
Suggesting a rift between Chinese civilian and military leaders on the issue, Gates said it was his “opinion that the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) is significantly less interested in developing this relationship than the political leadership of the country”.
Gates had planned to visit Beijing as part of an Asian tour that kicks off this week with an annual security conference in Singapore attended by senior military officials, including a delegation from China.
China has denounced US arms sales to Taiwan unveiled in January, and the cancellation of Gates’ visit appeared to fit a pattern of stepping back from exchanges with the American military to convey displeasure.
Speaking to reporters aboard his plane before landing in Singapore, Gates defended the weapons sales, saying they were nothing new and had not affected political or economic ties with Beijing. “The reality is these arms sales go back to the beginning of the relationship,” he said, referring to the normalisation of US-China ties in 1979.
The sales have always been “carefully calibrated” to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons, he said. “It depends on whether the Chinese want to make a big deal out of it or not,” Gates said, adding that “It’s been there for over a generation”.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 4th, 2010.
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