China, U.S. Throttle Back Tension

Military bosses make nice at a regional defense meeting in Singapore with talk of hotlines, cold wars, North Korean nukes, saving Afghanistan and even climate change.

Editor's Note: The Hot Zone used research provided by the independent International Institute of Strategic Studies to identify global conflicts for our coverage last year. The institute invited Yahoo! News correspondent Kevin Sites to participate as a delegate in its 6th Asia Security Summit, known as the "Shangri La Dialogue."

SINGAPORE — Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was great at making headlines but less so at making nations, whether enemies or allies, feel secure.

But Rumsfeld's past bombast about China's growing military menace may have just been the reason a senior general from the Chinese People's Liberation Army showed up at the Shangri La Dialogue this weekend — an unofficial, but increasingly important Asian security summit.

"I think the Chinese felt the need to be here in case they had to defend themselves," said one summit goer.

Rumsfeld blasted China last last year during the annual dialogue held in Singapore, stating that its large and secretive military buildup threatened the security balance in Asia.

Senior level Chinese military officials had avoided the talks in the past, but this year sent their Deputy Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Zhang Qinsheng, to counter any unkind words.

They had little to fear this year, however. New U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates mentioned China only at the very end of his speech, and in largely conciliatory tones.

"We have reason to be optimistic about the U.S.-China relationship," he said in his remarks on Saturday.

He cited as an example the successful Sino-American economic relationship and increased high-level military contacts with Chinese counterparts.

For his part, Zhang says China's intentions are peaceful. "We shall never trigger the first shot," he said in his speech during a session titled "India and China: Building International Stability."

The general also implied that China did not want to be the new dance partner in a replay of America's cold war past.

"China shall not join any form of arms race with any country," he said. "We develop only limited nuclear capabilities, adhere to no first use policy, and will not threaten to use nuclear weapons against nuclear free zones or countries."

But like U.S.-Soviet relations during the Cold War, Zhang said there will be a nuclear hotline between American and Chinese military command and control structures to help prevent accidental nuclear escalation. He said he will travel to the U.S. in the fall to finalize the technical details.

While Gates was mostly hands off China during his formal speech, in a question and answer session afterward he did raise concerns about the lack of transparency in China's military buildup.

Zhang responded by saying that a portion of the Chinese defense budget, estimated at nearly $45 billion, was earmarked only for new uniforms and troop quality of life issues, but China's size and multiple security threats warranted the spending. Zhang also reiterated China's hard line on Taiwan.

"China will try everything including political, diplomatic, economic and military means," he said, "to defend the territorial integrity of China and prevent Taiwan's secession."

One of the more surprising aspects of Gates' address was plea for help from Asian nations for newly independent Central Asian states, specifically Afghanistan.

While noting contributions to Afghanistan from Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Gates called for the region's leadership to play an even stronger role in everything from economic development and counter narcotics to security assistance. He said a lack of commitment from allies in Europe and Asia could be a "mark of shame," if gains in Afghanistan were reversed by resilient Taliban insurgency.

Gates argued that integrating Central Asia more deeply into "the great Asian family" was the interest of all the nations present, and would help to counter initiatives by Russia and China in that region.

"Of course, the degree that Central Asian states and Afghanistan choose to integrate into greater Asia is a decision for each of those sovereign countries," he said. "We will not assume to make the decision for them, but it's important that the welcome mat be out for them. Failure to do so could have devastating results."

Gates also used the gathering to draw further sharp contrast between himself and the often uncompromising hard line of his predecessor, Rumsfeld, by admitting more needs to be done to address some of the root causes of terrorism in the world — including dealing with poverty and disenfranchisement.

Gates said that the U.S. would also continue to reduce its "military footprint" in South Korea to allow it to assume more responsibility for its own defense. But the defense secretary did acknowledge the ongoing problem of "the production and proliferation of dangerous weapons by dangerous regimes," referring both to North Korea and Iran.

He said that North Korea had not followed through on steps toward its agreement to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, but that the Six Party Talks between North and South Korea, China, the U.S., Japan and Russia, initiated in 2005, were still a valid mechanism for dealing with the issue. North Korea violated terms of the agreement with a missile launch last year.

Gates also said the U.S. was making changes in Japan, including cooperation on ballistic missile defense, which it is also doing with nations in Eastern Europe, an initiative that provoked a major outcry from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who says it upsets the security balance in the region.

In his remarks, Gates said he invited Russian officials to inspect an existing interceptor site in Alaska to help allay their concerns.

A security concern raised at the summit that may not have been expected was the threat from global climate change.

In a speech that opened the event, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that global warming could bring about a chain of events with particular impact on Asia, including flooding, reduction of food production and refugee flows.

"Between countries, competition for scarce resources and displacement of populations across borders can deepen tensions and provoke conflicts and wars," he said.

He said that developing Asian nations will be one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases and may have to contend with the unappealing idea of slowing their rate of growth in order to deal with the problem.

- For more information, visit the International Institute for Strategic Studies Web site.

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