U.S. Envisions New Military Ties to China

In the midst of the Clinton Administration’s conflicts with China over human rights, the Pentagon is preparing a series of important steps to upgrade America’s defense ties with Beijing, including possible joint U.S.-Chinese military cooperation in Asia, according to Pentagon officials.

The military cooperation, aimed at reassuring the People’s Liberation Army that the United States does not consider it an adversary, would begin with peacekeeping operations or joint U.S.-Chinese disaster relief in places such as Central Asia.

As envisioned by Pentagon officials, military units of the two countries would work together to set up joint command posts or temporary airfields.

Other steps envisioned by the Pentagon include the creation of a Joint Commission on Defense Conversion to discuss how to transform Chinese and U.S. defense industries from military to civilian use; and regular or annual meetings between America’s defense secretary and China’s defense minister.

These steps could be discussed or even finalized during Secretary of State Warren Christopher’s trip to China, which begins Friday.

A Pentagon source said Undersecretary of Defense Frank Wisner will accompany Christopher to Beijing in what would be the highest-level visit by a U.S. defense official since China’s 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing.

Wisner’s visit to Beijing has not been officially confirmed, however, and it is possible that it could be postponed because of the Administration’s unhappiness with China’s recent arrests of several dissidents.

At a Hong Kong news conference Sunday, Assistant Secretary of State John Shattuck said the detentions “cast a pall over Secretary Christopher’s visit to Beijing.”

So the Pentagon’s plans to upgrade ties with China illustrate some of the complexities, mixed signals and contradictions of the Clinton Administration’s current China policy.

During the 1992 campaign, Clinton attacked the George Bush Administration for “coddling dictators” in China and other countries. And after taking office, Clinton signed an order that made the annual extension of China’s “most favored nation” trading benefits conditional on improvements in the human rights climate in China.

Clinton must decide by June what to do about China’s MFN status.

But while the Administration has taken a relatively strong public position on human rights, both the Pentagon and officials at the National Economic Council have been pressing hard for more conciliatory policies toward China.

In a speech two weeks ago to the Asia Society in Washington, Assistant Defense Secretary Charles W. Freeman Jr. characterized Clinton’s 1992 campaign statements merely as “strong rhetoric.”

He said these election-year statements were among the “irritants” in U.S.-China relations that the Administration has been trying to smooth over.

“We in the Department of Defense don’t spend a lot of time worrying about China,” Freeman said in the speech. “We don’t see it as a threat, particularly. . . . We see it as an opportunity.”

After the 1989 crackdown on protesters, the United States cut off all ties between U.S. military officials and the Chinese army.

Last fall, after an intensive internal review of China policy, the Administration re-established the military contacts as part of a series of measures aimed at easing tensions between Washington and Beijing.

From the Pentagon’s point of view, better ties with Beijing would help prevent China from turning into a troublesome adversary. China is in the middle of a defense buildup, and U.S. military officials see China as the future power of Asia.

Pentagon officials believe that leaders of the People’s Liberation Army can be influential in determining the outcome of a number of potential flash points in Asia, including the nuclear crisis in North Korea, conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea, continuing instability in Central Asia and the persistent conflict between India and Pakistan.

Times staff writer Jim Mann is traveling with Secretary of State Warren Christopher.