Posted on 02/23/2007 2:32:23 PM PST by MadIvan
Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President, has expressed unease over China’s growing military might, warning that its recent testing of anti-satellite weapons clashed with the country’s professed peaceful intentions.
Speaking in Sydney after a visit to Japan, Mr Cheney also questioned whether North Korea would follow through on its commitments made in a landmark deal to end its nuclear programme.
In an address to prominent US and Australian figures, the Vice-President praised China for its crucial role in six-party talks that led to the North Korea pact, under which Pyongyang agreed to disable its main nuclear reactor in exchange for heavy fuel oil.
But he went on to openly chide Beijing for its action on its own defence matters, saying that its military build-up and testing last month of anti-satellite weapons were “less constructive and are not consistent with China’s stated goal of a peaceful rise”.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to the comments, with government offices closed today to mark the week-long Lunar New Year holiday. Beijing has previously insisted that its firing of a ballistic missile at one of its own weather satellites on January 11 was for scientific purposes, but the test was widely criticised as a provocative demonstration of the nation’s growing military clout.
China’s growing economic power has been accompanied by evidence of increasing military prowess, prompting concerns that the balance of military might in the Pacific could start to shift away from the US. Beijing admitted in late December that it was strengthening its defences to thwart any attempt by Taiwan to push for independence, but vowed it was committed to the peaceful development of its 2.3 million-strong military, the world’s largest.
Washington claimed that the test - which made China only the third nation after the United States and Russia to use weapons beyond the atmosphere - undermined efforts to keep weapons out of space. Beijing countered this by levelling the accusation back at the US, which it accused of blocking a possible global treaty that would ban weapons in space.
Speaking on the North Korea deal, Mr Cheney echoed comments made by George Bush in saying it represented “a first hopeful step” towards a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, but warned there were concerns in the White House on whether Pyongyang would implement its side of the bargain.
“We go into this deal with our eyes open,” he said. “In light of North Korea’s missile test last July, its nuclear test in October and its record of proliferation and human rights abuses, the regime in Pyongyang has much to prove.”
The wide-ranging speech came after Mr Cheney visited Japan, where he met with Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister. The issue of China’s military rise is said to have featured high on the agenda in Mr Cheney’s Tokyo talks, and analysts said his comments today may have been aimed at showing Japan that the US was alert to its concerns.
During his tour of the region, Mr Cheney has sought to reassure Australia and Japan – two of the White House’s closest allies – that US commitment to the area would remain strong, despite Iraq.
Mirroring the political damage faced by the Bush Administration, the war has become an increasing headache for John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, whose Government has fallen in opinion polls ahead of elections due later this year.
Some 67 per cent of Australians want Mr Howard to set a withdrawal date from Iraq, or pull out the country’s forces immediately – a consensus which has been reflected in the anti-war protests which have blighted Mr Cheney’s visit. Today itself, his address was marred by clashes between police and around 100 demonstrators, who rallied outside the hotel where the Vice-President was speaking, waving placards saying: “Go home Cheney” and “Bring the troops home.”
Nonetheless, Mr Cheney used today’s speech to make a vigorous defence of the war, thanking Australia for sending in troops and warning that a hasty withdrawal would enable terrorists to spread their nefarious aims across the world. “The notion that free countries can turn our backs on what happens in places like Afghanistan, Iraq or any other possible safe haven for terrorists is an option we simply cannot indulge,” he said.
Mr Cheney later visited a military barracks in Sydney and held talks with a group of Australian troops who had served overseas. He also met with Kevin Rudd, the Ppposition leader, who has demanded a set timetable for withdrawing Australian troops from Iraq and faster action to deal David Hicks, an Australian who has been jailed without trial at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay for more than five years.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Cheney 08!
"Cheney 08!"
I wish!! Certainly a better choice than McCain and Guiliani! Oh well.
Talk is cheap. Just ask Condi re N.Korea.
How about this warning, Dickie...
It's official: Mexican trucks coming
100 companies will have unlimited access to U.S. roads
Old Mexico- the 51st state!
Gee thanks. Without your posting of immigration complaints on this thread about foreign policy regarding China, I would have never known there was a problem and that people were unhappy.
Talk is sometimes cheap. It all depends. I think the Veep means what he says, and I find it refreshing. In Washington, straight talk can actually be rather expensive. Cheney is willing to be the Rats' and the media's "bad guy." Very few others in this administration are willing to do this. I give him many, many points for his straight talk, and straight thinking.
"Very few others in this administration are willing to do this. I give him many, many points for his straight talk, and straight thinking."
He can afford to. He's not running for the Presidency. He's pretty much figured his health, and the stress of the job, would very likely knock him off in the first term. So he has no problem being a lightning rod at this point.
"Talk is cheap. Just ask Condi re N.Korea."
If they had any real balls towards N. Korea, it would come in the form of one short press release: "LET THE RED BASTARDS STARVE!"
As for China, it's amusing that Cheney would criticize an arms build-up that's funded by the dollars brought in by the very same free-trade policies that he supports. China is just doing what they've always planned since they learned from the fall of the USSR, use America and the free trade saps to eventually make them the dominant military/economic power. And they are patient enough to wait decades to see it through.
We need such people.
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