U.S. and Hong Kong (1999)

DoD News Briefing

Thursday, November 4, 1999 - 2:00 p.m.
Presenter: Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon, ASD PA

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Q: There was a report today that the United States and China are close to reviving military ties. Is a Chinese delegation coming here next month? Do you have the initial go-ahead on that?

BACON: The Chinese have said that they want to resume military-to-military relations. We have yet to work out the details, including the details of when a defense consultative committee or team will get together to actually figure out what the next steps are. But there has been one very encouraging event so far, which is the U.S.S. O'Brien just completed a port visit in Hong Kong, the first visit by a U.S. ship since the Operation Allied Force involving Kosovo. So that's a positive sign. I think she left Hong Kong this morning Hong Kong time.

The next step is to get together the U.S. and Chinese officials to work out how we plan to restart this relationship. Right now Kurt Campbell, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asian affairs, is scheduled to go to China with an official, a military official from the Pacific Command, later this month. And we hope that we will be able to have a meeting of the -- revive the so-called "defense consultative talks," probably in January. But no date has been set yet, and that remains to be worked out. So we won't have any firm information on when the relationship will be revived and how it will be revived until we have these Defense Consultative Talks.

Q: You're not expecting a Chinese visitor next month?

BACON: There is no firm date set on a Chinese visitor next month, no. And I would think that the visitor may come in January, but we don't have a firm date set. Obviously, from our standpoint, we would welcome a visit next month, but we don't know of firm plans for a visitor to come.

Q: And when exactly did the Chinese say that they did want to resume military-to-military contacts?

BACON: Well, it was, I think, during Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering's last visit to China. He's been there several times recently working on a variety of issues, and I think his last visit may have been last week, and I think that's when it came, the information -- the suggestion from the Chinese came that they were willing. But remember, we already had the one important sign, which was their willingness to accept a port visit by the USS O'Brien in Hong Kong.

Q: Could you explain the difference between military-to-military contacts and what the deputy assistant secretary will be doing? How is that different from the military-to-military contacts?

BACON: Well, what we had talked about was reciprocal port visits. We had talked about possible participation in certain table-top exercises dealing with disaster relief and things like that. In the past we had negotiated some maritime rules of the road which dealt with the way our navies would deal with each other if there were problems, incidents at sea. There are various military exchanges we've had in the past. I'll give you a perfect example. General Krulak, when he was commandant of the Marine Corps, was scheduled to go to China on an official visit; that visit never took place. It's conceivable that General Jones, the 32nd commandant, will go at some future time, but that's yet to be worked out. Those are exactly the type of details that would be resolved during Defense Consultative Talks, and as I say, those are the talks that haven't been scheduled yet but are really a necessary precondition to knowing where we go next.

Q: And -- I'm sorry -- Campbell and the PACOM officials then are the precondition to beginning the Defense --

BACON: I think it's the PACOM J-5, yeah. I think --

Q: Precondition to beginning the Defense Consultative Talks?

BACON: Yeah -- I mean, we could schedule the Defense Consultative Talks before that. But I think it's most likely to happen during the Campbell PACOM J-5 as it now -- you know, this is currently scheduled. I assume it's going to take place. But a scheduled visit isn't necessarily when that will take place.

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