U.S. and Hong Kong (2008)

United States Pacific Command

Admiral Timothy J. Keating, U.S. Navy
Commander, U.S. Pacific Command

Press Roundtable
Beijing, China

January 15, 2008

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

Question: Your tone seems markedly more cautious this time than in May, I think. I'm wondering why that's so. Specifically you're coming here after the incident with the Kitty Hawk over Thanksgiving, the minesweepers. I'd like to ask specifically about that.

How much have the circumstances changed now so that the 7th Fleet or the Pacific Command can no longer rely on Hong Kong as a reliable port of call? And how does that impact your operations in this area?

Admiral Keating: In reverse order, Tim, the ability of Kitty Hawk to make port calls in let's say Hong Kong is of almost no consequence operationally. The carrier can go steam around for months and it's fully armed all the time, and it's always at a very high state of readiness.

The issue of the Hon Kong port call was discussed yesterday. I talked about it at both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with our colleagues in the Ministry of Defense. We were unhappy that the visit was canceled. We have discussed it. I brought up the topic that we had a request in for another ship to visit Hong Kong fairly soon, and I was given assurances that it would receive, I'll say, favorable consideration. Those are my words, but I was not unhappy with the language used both in Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Department of Defense for subsequent ship visits.

I took the time to point out that the last time I was in Hong Kong was on the USS Kitty Hawk, an aircraft carrier. I had the pleasure of commanding the Kitty Hawk battle group and this was in '99 or 2000. My wife and daughter came down and we had a wonderful time. Hong Kong for American service men and women is one of the crown jewels, and we are very anxious to ensure our ability to continue to visit Hong Kong. And it leads to, here's the recurring theme -- the development of trust and confidence and transparency. So we think it's kind of a signal flair for positive improving relations. And you started, if I understood the first part of your question. A little more reserved -- how did you characterize it, Tim?

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

Question: Washington Post.

One is, have you learned anything about reports that the Chinese are studying U.S. military operations in Iraq, looking for U.S., you know, to study and better understand U.S. vulnerabilities?

And two, on the Kitty Hawk, [Chan Bingas] comments to reporters yesterday suggested that he thought that the Kitty Hawk did not follow international rules. He said China's a country with its own territory. If a ship wants to stop in Hong Kong you have to follow the international rules. I wasn't there, but the AP reporter --

Admiral Keating: I talked to him right after that opportunity, and he did not characterize the Kitty Hawk visit in those terms. I'm sure that our embassy officials and the 7th Fleet officials and the captain on the Kitty Hawk, whatever international rules were required to be observed, I'm sure those were observed. Now I don't know whether General Chan had a different -- I haven't a clue what he would mean by that. I'm confident that our embassy officials and 7th fleet officials and Kitty Hawk personnel did everything correctly.

What was the first?

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

# # # #