Port Call Boost for Sino-U.S. Relations

The aircraft carrier Constellation and six other American warships begin a five-day visit here today in the latest sign of improving U.S.-Chinese relations.

On Sunday, U.S. military officials described the ships’ arrival as routine, but it is in many ways more a return to routine.

The Constellation’s presence marks the first time such a large group of U.S. ships has visited Hong Kong since a midair collision in April between American and Chinese military planes over the South China Sea sent Sino-American ties into a tailspin. Two Navy minesweepers that visited briefly last month were the first American military vessels to moor in Hong Kong since March.

“This is a routine port call for rest and recreation, one of many periodic calls the Navy makes in Hong Kong,” said a U.S. official in Hong Kong speaking on behalf of the 7th Fleet.

Beijing did, however, last week refuse to allow a U.S. P-3C reconnaissance plane to land in Hong Kong. The aircraft is similar to the one that collided with a Chinese fighter jet.

The U.S. official declined to comment on the political significance of the visit, but the presence in Hong Kong harbor of the seven American ships that make up the Constellation’s carrier battle group speaks for itself.

Such calls are considered an important symbol of Hong Kong’s special status within China--a status that has protected basic human rights and many democratic freedoms in the former British colony since it was returned to China four years ago under the formula known as “one country, two systems.”

The current visit is also seen as another indication that a newly stable, businesslike tone has begun to characterize relations between Beijing and Washington as both sides prepare for President Bush’s scheduled trip to China in October.

Fifty to 60 U.S. warships, on average, have visited Hong Kong each year since the territory was returned to China, according to U.S. Consulate spokeswoman Barbara Zigli. She said the last aircraft carrier to visit was the Kitty Hawk, in May 2000.

Most of the 6,500 crew members on the seven ships are expected to take shore leave during this week’s visit, and Zigli estimated that everything from the sailors’ collective bar tab to fees for servicing the ships with fuel, food and water will pump about $3.75 million into the local economy.

The Constellation arrives in Hong Kong after completing a large one-day exercise Friday in the South China Sea that involved a second American aircraft carrier, the Carl Vinson. A dozen other ships, more than 130 carrier-based naval planes and 20 Air Force aircraft also participated in the maneuvers, according to information supplied by the 7th Fleet.

Fleet officials declined to confirm exactly where the maneuvers took place. However, the fact that the exercise was conducted in the general vicinity of the politically sensitive Taiwan Strait and China’s eastern coast triggered speculation that it represented a U.S. response to Chinese muscle-flexing.

China’s military has been conducting war games for several months in a coastal area opposite Taiwan during which the People’s Liberation Army has reportedly simulated an invasion of the island. Bush has stated that the U.S. will “do what it takes” to defend Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province.

An American official called Friday’s training a “passing exercise,” of the kind that occurs only on the rare occasions when two carrier battle groups are in the same area. The Constellation, on its way home to San Diego after six months in Asia and the Middle East, and the Carl Vinson, at the beginning of its deployment period, happened to pass in the South China Sea, the official said.

“The geographic location of the exercise was a matter of chance,” the U.S. official said. “There is no intent to send a specific message to the People’s Republic of China.”