Chinese Officers to Tour U.S. Bases

Forbes/AP ^ | 29 October 2006 | AUDREY McAVOY

[af_vet_rr]

A Chinese military delegation will begin a five-day tour of U.S. military installations in Hawaii and California on Monday and meet with senior U.S. officers in the latest step to repair military ties between the two countries.

About 30 midlevel military commanders in the People's Liberation Army, including division and brigade commanders, will visit U.S. Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii, tour a guided missile destroyer in San Diego and observe Marine training at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

U.S. officials, not wanting to show their counterparts too many U.S. military capabilities, denied Chinese requests to tour an active U.S. aircraft carrier and see the Army's newest troop transporter, the Stryker armored vehicle.

China showed a U.S. military delegation that visited the country in March antiquated planes and ships dating to the late 1960s and early 1970s.

[af_vet_rr]

Interesting. I don't know that it's exactly newsworthy, I had just come across a few threads where people complained about people taking pictures of US Navy ships, that it was a security risk, etc., and then we have this. My view is, if the US Navy is worried about people taking photographs, the US Navy will make it quite clear.

[Incorrigible]

See this screen... This is where we track all your ships and subs.

See this ship... This is where we use that information to blast your ships and subs to the briny deep.

Any questions?

 

[reagan_fanatic]

I'm sure these Chinese 'tourists' are here strictly out of innocent curiousity and nothing more.

/sarc

[olezip]

To what extent are China, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and other communist countries giving USA officers tours of their military installations? Are we STUPID or what?

[Bringbackthedraft]

China showed a U.S. military delegation that visited the country in March antiquated planes and ships dating to the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...... They should take them on a tour of the Intrepid, the USAF museum at Dayton Ohio, and the Tank Park at Aberdeen MD. Tit for Tat.

[af_vet_rr]

To what extent are China, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and other communist countries giving USA officers tours of their military installations? Are we STUPID or what?

You tell me whether we are stupid or not. According to the article: "China showed a U.S. military delegation that visited the country in March antiquated planes and ships dating to the late 1960s and early 1970s."

[Zhang Fei]

Looks like a good chance for our intelligence operatives to have a crack at the cream of China's military. Although it has to be said that the vast majority of defectors tend to be walk-ins - i.e. they come in of their own accord rather than as the result of some recruitment effort. Still, it's nice to get the chance to tell potential recruits how to go about defecting if they should express any interest in doing so. We had a Chinese colonel come over just before the EP-3 spy plane incident. In fact, that defection might well have triggered the aggressive maneuvers against the EP-3.

[olezip]

As far as I can tell the voluntary, one-way flow of intelligence from the USA to communist China has been going on since the 1970s.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

How do you keep people from taking photos of Navy Ships when they sail in and out of public harbors like Norfolk?

[navyguy]

YES... WE ARE STUPID.

The most we should ever show the ChiComms is a beat up, out of service 1911 semi-auto and a lever action .22.

[JRios1968]

In 1995, I was finishing my assignment at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, the home of the B-2 Stealth Bomber. One of my last duties there was to organize an "Airpower Static Display," for a Russian delegation that was coming with then-SecDef Perry to witness the destruction of a Minuteman II missile silo.

On Friday afternoon, a B-52 and B-1 arrived at Whiteman...Saturday morning, the Russians and Perry arrived, jumped into helicopters and flew off to witness the implosion. As soon as they took off, my team went into action, towing a B-2 out of the hangar, and placing it between the B-1 and B-52, behind a cordon and surrounded with armed guards. An hour or so later, when the helicopters returned, the Russians were jumping out before they even touched the ground, and ran towards the B-2.

I can still remember the look on the guards' faces, and we were able to avoid an international incident, but not before one or two Russians had already climbed halfway into the B-2.

Yes, we (the USA) are stupid when it comes to such matters!

[greasepaint]

what would the Russians be able to learn from
such an incident?

[JRios1968]

Well, we were able to stop them before they say anything classified, but it could have been seen as a test of our security.

Soon after that, the base's security manager was axed...

[greasepaint]

OK, suppose they see that the B-1
uses the ARN-123 radio,
who cares?

[JRios1968]

They went straight to the B-2, trying to get a look at the exhaust systems and the skin...they completely ignored the B-1 and B-52. Remember, this is when the B-2 was still very new.

[af_vet_rr]

How do you keep people from taking photos of Navy Ships when they sail in and out of public harbors like Norfolk?

Exactly. It was funny that people were bitching about other people taking pictures of their kids on these ships or from shore, and I'm thinking "I can go spend $30 at Barnes and Noble and buy a book that shows just about e everything, up to and including the layout of the ship".

These are the same people that cheer the cops on when they bother somebody taking photos of airliners flying overhead, or pictures of public monuments, buildings, etc.

[greasepaint]

can you tell the difference between painted aluminum
and painted carbon-composite,
just by looking at it?

[JRios1968]

I can...but I have been trained.

What makes the B-2 special is the design of the systems, in combination with the materials used. And that is about all I can say.

[RicocheT]

This Chinese military delegation will be programming the base locations into their GPS units for later targeting coordinates. They may share the data with N. Korea so the fall out from our retaliation is a bit more east of Beijing.

[reformedliberal]

In 1975, we were in NZ. We had been away from home for about 3 weeks and I was homesick. We took a walk along the harbor quay (IIRC, this was Auckland) and there was a huge, grey American ship with the relatively small US flag on it. I walked up and touched the flag. There was no security, even though at that point in time, there were protests in NZ against our ships that were even powered by nuclear, let alone suspected of having nukes in their arsenal.

Just seeing that ship made me feel a tiny bit better. Touching it was somehow an act of affirmation of my Americanism. However, later, when I thought about it, it seemed almost too easy.