Posted on 12/07/2002 7:59:18 AM PST by tallhappy
BBC Monitoring International Reports
December 6, 2002
LENGTH: 171 words
HEADLINE: CHINA'S XIONG GUANGKAI LEADS MILITARY DELEGATION TO USA
BODY:
(New China News Agency)
Beijing, 6 December: Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), led a delegation to head for the United States Thursday 5 December afternoon.
Xiong is to hold the fifth China-US consultations on defence at vice-defence ministerial level at the invitation of the US Department of Defence. During Chinese President Jiang Zemin's US tour last October, China and the United States agreed to resume military communication, including the defence consultations at vice-defence ministerial level and other programmes.
The two sides of the consultations are expected to exchange views on international and regional security issues and topics of common interest, as well as relations between the two countries and the two armed forces.
Zhan Maohai, director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Chinese Defence Ministry, accompanied Xiong to the US.
Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 0859 gmt 6 Dec 02
/) BBC Monitoring
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Japan Economic Newswire
December 6, 2002 Friday
SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS
LENGTH: 125 words
HEADLINE: U.S., China to hold defense talks Mon.
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Dec. 6
BODY: The United States and China will hold defense talks Monday at the Pentagon to discuss issues, including regional security, terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. Defense Department said Friday.
The upcoming meeting of senior defense officials of the two countries will be the first of its kind since the April 2001 collision of a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea. Discussions at the meeting are expected to focus on North Korea's nuclear weapons program as well as policy on Iraq.
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith will host the meeting, with the Chinese delegation led by Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army.
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Agence France Presse
December 5, 2002 Thursday
SECTION: International News
LENGTH: 495 words
HEADLINE: US preparing full court press on China over Iraq
DATELINE: BEIJING, Dec 5
BODY: China and the United States were gearing up for a series of high-level meetings to largely focus on US war plans with Iraq, but also touching on human rights, officials said Thursday.
The talks precede a visit to China by US Vice President Dick Cheney early next year and come as US-China relations are witnessing a warming trend founded on a common goal of fighting global terrorism.
Chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army Xiong Guangkai was to hold vice defense ministerial talks with US defense officials in Washington December 9-10, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said. "During these, the two sides will exchange opinions on regional and international matters as well as bilateral military relations and other issues of common concern," Liu said.
The talks are part of an October agreement between President Jiang Zemin and President George W. Bush to soon resume military-to-military exchanges, Liu said.
The second-ranking US diplomat, Richard Armitage, was to arrive in Beijing December 11 for two days of talks on a four-nation tour to Japan, South Korea and Australia aimed to lay out US plans on Iraq, US embassy officials here said.
"The purpose of the trip is part of our continuing consultations on Iraq with friends and allies and efforts to ensure that Iraq complies with UN Security Council resolution(s)," a US embassy spokesman told AFP.
The commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Rear Admiral Thomas Fargo, was also due to land in China December 12 for a three-day visit, the China News Service reported.
Fargo was to be the highest US military official to visit Beijing since China's shake-up of its top brass last month, which included the stepping down of vice chairmen of the powerful Central Military Commission Zhang Wannian and Chi Haotian.
Fargo is expected to meet China's newly appointed ranking military officer and CMC vice chairman General Cao Guangchun.
Chinese President Jiang is the chairman of the commission.
Both sets of talks are likely to focus on US efforts to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and ongoing efforts in the global war on terrorism, Western diplomats in Beijing said.
The State Department's envoy for democracy and human rights Lorne Craner was also due in Beijing on December 16 for meetings with his counterpart Li Baodong to re-open a bilateral human rights dialogue last held in October 2001, Liu said.
US ambassador to China, Clark Randt, last month vowed to bring China to task over its dismal human rights record, despite the recent warming trend between Beijing and Washington.
The US diplomat also demanded substantive results from the December 16 dialogue.
"If China wants to be accepted as both a respected and responsible member of the international community, then China must abide by certain internationally-accepted forms of behavior," Randt told members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing.
Nothing good can come of this and the Bush administration is drifting toward the failed Clinton path in this arena. It will not help with Iraq, but will complicate things.
Here's a link to articles about Xiong including Severnside's Who Is Xiong Guangkai?
THE US NAVY'S announcement last week that three Los Angeles-class attack submarines will be stationed on Guam slipped by without much fanfare in the regional media, but alarm bells must be ringing in Beijing.
When the USS City of Corpus Christi arrives at its new base later this month, it will mark the first time a nuclear-powered attack submarine has had a home port on the Pacific island, which is strategically located midway between Hawaii and the Philippines.
When the other boats - the USS San Francisco and another yet to be announced - arrive later this year they will be an irritating thorn in the side of China's military planners. As China improves its capabilities with modern fighter jets, ships and submarines, the US is trying to stay one step ahead by boosting its presence in the Pacific and selling arms to Taiwan. The Americans have made no secret of the fact the subs are being sent deeper into the Pacific to remind Beijing of who rules the ocean.
"The US is sending China a message, and the message is that the US navy is the most powerful navy in the Pacific and it intends to stay that way," said Phillip Saunders, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Programme at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California.
Any takers on bets they got blueprints for something aka Flash Gordon lying about in Bejing.
Yes..lets hope Clinton did not give them particle accelerator technology!
Scr*w China - and Scr*w treasonous bastard Bill Clinton!
(oh, and thank you delusional Bill Clinton and the DNC for giving those two light-water nuclear reactors to North Korea)
Sorry WoofDog, quite incorrect. No stealing was involved in Chinagate;
treasonous bastard Bill Clinton accepted cash from John Huang, Johnny Chung
and Charlie Trie for all of our nuclear secrets.
Bump
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