CHINA-US MILITARY DIALOGUE

U.S.-CHINA MILITARY THAW?

China RealTime Report, September 22, 2010

Stephen M. Young, America’s top diplomat in Hong Kong, said Tuesday he expects military-to-military dialogue between the U.S. and China to resume within the next couple of months.

“Our diplomats are confident that we are moving toward the resumption of mil-to-mil dialogue,” said Mr. Young. It would happen “not because it’s somehow a favor to us, but because we have enough issues with China that we should really have that dialogue.”

China cut off most links between the two militaries in January after the U.S. announced an arms sale package to Taiwan. The mini-thaw on the military front comes as there are tentative plans for Chinese President Hu Jintao to visit Washington in January.

“There are a whole lot of mechanisms that have been in a place for a while between our two militaries that were put on hold in January and we hope will resume soon,” he said.

Mr. Young, counsel general to Hong Kong, was speaking to a group of U.S. news outlets when he made his comments Tuesday. It was his first wide ranging, on-the-record talk with American media since arriving to Hong Kong in March.

On the diplomatic fracas between Japan and China over a set of disputed islands in the East China Sea, Mr. Young repeated previous calls by the U.S. for the two sides to resolve their differences diplomatically. “Obviously we hope [the Japanese] and the Chinese can find a means of talking about this,” he said. “You never like to see a situation like this escalate.”

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