The outlook for Obama's trip to China

ARTICLE: U.S. Hopes to Strengthen Ties With China's Expanding Military, By John Pomfret, Washington Post, October 15, 2009

The simple truth:

During his first visit to China next month, President Obama hopes to strengthen ties with Beijing on efforts to combat climate change, address the global financial crisis and contain nuclear proliferation in North Korea and Iran. Perhaps most important, he also aims to improve the U.S. relationship with China's military.

The once-insular nation is broadening its international interests and investing around the globe, and its military is rapidly modernizing. So there is concern that U.S. and Chinese forces may find themselves bumping into each other without formal mechanisms in place for the two militaries to iron out disagreements.

The article points out that, during the Cold War, the US had a lot more comprehensive and robust mil-mil interaction effort with the Sovs than it currently has with the PLA!

The duh! bit:

In the past, some U.S. officials said forging ties with the Chinese military wasn't that important. Even though its defense spending had risen dramatically, outpaced only by the United States', China's intentions were limited to defending its sovereignty.

But two developments have changed American thinking, analysts say. The first was the realization that every crisis between the United States and China -- including the Chinese army crackdown on Tiananmen Square demonstrators in 1989 and the accidental bombing of China's embassy in Yugoslavia in 1999 by U.S. planes -- has involved the nations' militaries.

The second was the conclusion that the People's Liberation Army wants to expand its activities around the world as China expands its international investments. Last year, China dispatched three navy ships outside of Asia for the first time in its modern history, sending them to fight piracy off Somalia alongside an international task force. (italics mine).

Somebody sent me an email recently about a question I said should be asked of the prez candidates (18 months ago) regarding my sense that significant priority should be given to developing mil-mil ties with the Chinese because virtually every hotspot in the world was becoming a place where we're constantly bumping into the Chinese. I think the reader was trying to get me to criticize the Obama admin on this issue.

Well, I guess we have our answer here, and it's a good one.

Yes, the Chinese have a list of things ("obstacles" to better relations) they want massaged before wider mil-mil ties are possible. Fortunately, it's a lot of small stuff--plus no more arms sales to Taiwan. All doable, in my mind.