U.S. and Hong Kong (2007)

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)

News Transcript

Presenter: Director for Operations Lt. Gen. Carter Ham and Director for Strategic Plans and Policy Lt. Gen. John Sattler

December 07, 2007

DoD Press Briefing with Lt. Gen. Ham and Lt. Gen. Sattler from the Pentagon Briefing Room, Arlington, Va.

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

Q: General, I wanted to ask you about China.

You were in the Defense Consultative Talks earlier this week, and there have been reports from the Chinese military that they did give indications in this meeting about why the Kitty Hawk port refusal happened. What did they tell you on that level? Did they indicate that it was due to relations with Taiwan and these military weapons sales to Taiwan?

GEN. SATTLER: And I apologize. I missed the first half of the DCT talks, and I was not there when that portion was discussed. But I do know when I came into the meeting in the afternoon, that there was -- we -- everybody had basically said: Look, whether it was confusion, whether or not it had to do with multiple theories that are floating out there, the point was, it's time to move on. We have bigger things to discuss here.

We were not happy that it happened. The families that came into Hong Kong to link up for Thanksgiving -- their disappointment -- you can't take that away from those families. There's no way you can remunerate them for what they lost there. But -- comma -- whatever discussions were had either there at the NSC or at a higher level, we moved on and actually got to some of the weightier issues that the two countries need to talk our way through.

(Cross talk.)

Q: (Off mike) -- move on, but what explanation was given? I mean, we understand the policy is to move on, but there was an explanation given during the meetings, was there not?

GEN. SATTLER: And I -- and as I stated, I was not -- I can honestly state I was not there.

Q: (Off mike.)

GEN. SATTLER: I -- we moved on when I got into the room, and I never asked anybody in the room. And that's -- I'd be --

Q: Well -- (off mike) --

GEN. SATTLER: I'd shoot straight with you. I don't know.

Q: Is the U.S. military going to put in another request for a U.S. military visit to Hong Kong? And when are you doing it? Have you done it?

And General Ham, are you aware of what the Chinese might have said? Are either of you aware of what the Chinese might have said?

GEN. HAM: I am not. Pacific Command is continually assessing, you know, where the right places are. Obviously Pacific Command wants to maintain a mil-to-mil relationship with the Chinese, and that's a helpful thing.

And we probably have time for one more. (Cross talk.)

Q: Did China provide any kind of assurance that they're going to allow U.S. ships to take harbor, they're going to allow just any planes to land there? And did the Chinese officials specifically say that they're ready to move on, or was it the U.S. that's ready?

GEN. SATTLER: It was ours -- our stance -- first of all, the first part of the question, as General Ham indicated, if Admiral Keating and Pacific Command -- if they want to apply for port visits anywhere throughout his theater of operations, that's his call. We don't drive that from back here. And that'll be on a case-by-case -- the sovereign country of China will either accommodate and accept or whatever -- whatever happens on that is still in the future. So can't predict that.

And what was the second part of the question? Was --

Q: Well, so they didn't provide any assurances, then, right, for the --

GEN. SATTLER: No, I -- again, I wasn't there for the discussion. I have not heard that we asked them for assurances or that they provided them. I don't know.

Q: Could we just move on briefly on the weighty issues that you talked about, on China, wanting to move on to those issues? One of the ones we heard about was a strategic dialogue, perhaps involving nuclear issues. Can you flesh that out a bit? What's the idea -- what kind of discussions would those be? What would be the topics for discussion? And how receptive were the Chinese?

GEN. SATTLER: Well, when I was there, what we did is, we teed up the discussions to have open dialogue, more transparency in communications on a number of issues, one of which was -- one of the myriad issues was in fact dialogue on nuclear weapons and policy, to make sure that there was no ambiguity between the two countries.

Didn't go much deeper than that, but it was tabled as we look at the next agenda to make sure that that is a more concrete topic that would be discussed, and that's where it was left in these particular defense consultative talks.

Q: (Off mike) -- were they open to that idea?

GEN. SATTLER: Oh, they were very open. As a matter of fact, they briefed that portion; they teed it up and they brought it forward, and then we commented. So there was good dialogue about the issue, but we did not get down into any specifics. But I think one of the key points is we all agreed the more transparent, the more we can educate and illuminate each other and the less ambiguity that exists, the better off that both countries will be, and then we tabled it for a future topic.

And I think we out of -- to use an aviation term, air speed and altitude here.

Q: When's your next briefing?

GEN. SATTLER: We don't talk that often, so -- (laughter).

[ ...Intervening Text... ]