Ahead of the resumption of Sino-US military-to-military dialogue, the Obama administration has asked China to be more transparent in its defence communication with America, saying there is uncertainty about Beijing's future capabilities and intentions.
"Much like the region itself, China's future remains uncertain," Michael Schiffer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for East Asia policy, said in his remarks at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a Washington-based think tank.
This is a remarkably complex moment in the history for China as it acquires new capabilities and begins to play a greater role in regional and global economic and security affairs, he said.
"And it is this very uncertainty about China's future capabilities and intentions that makes the military component of the bilateral relationship so extraordinarily challenging and so extraordinarily important to get right," he said.
"It is the question, in fact, that we each have about each other, because China certainly has questions about us, just as we have questions about China, that underscores the importance of developing a deeper dialogue and a more durable military and security relationship between our two countries," Schiffer said.
This is an issue that the US talk quite openly and frankly with the Chinese, he said. "We emphasise on our part that while we understand that China is a growing economic power, it's modernising its military in ways that are natural aspects of any country's development, (but) the lack of transparency about the nature of China's investments, its intents and its doctrine has caused disquiet in the United States and the region."
"It is, therefore, in both of our countries' interest, indeed in the interest of the region as a whole, that we are able to have forthcoming and candid conversations about China's military modernisation and in particular about some of the anti-access capabilities that we think we see in the pipeline, but which we understand imperfectly," Schiffer said.
"It is precisely because we seek to avoid the sort of uncertainty and insecurity which if not managed properly can lead to a dangerous and unwanted security competition that we recognise the need to build a healthy military-to-military relationship, ... that as we like to say is sustained, reliable and continuous," he observed.
His remarks came ahead of Defence Secretary Robert Gates' visit to Beijing next week for the bilateral military-to-military dialogue.
China needs to be transparent in defence communication: US
China's homemade jet ARJ21-700 starts cold-weather trial
China's homemade jet ARJ21-700 starts cold-weather trial
English.news.cn 2011-01-09 15:17:00 FeedbackPrintRSS
XI'AN, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The country's first homegrown regional jet ARJ21-700 is being tested to see how well it performs in the extreme cold of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China's flight testing establishment said Sunday.
The 78- to 90-seat aircraft completed a 3-hour flight from Xi'an in Shaanxi Province to Manzhouli City, Inner Mongolia, Thursday, according to the jet's manufacturer -- the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac).
A spokesman with the company confirmed the jet's cold-weather trial would continue for a week to test the performance of its hydraulics and other functions in Manzhouli, where the daily average temperature is 30 below zero.
The jet has a maximum flight range of 3,700 kilometers and maximum altitude of 11,900 meters.
So far, ARJ21-700 has completed more than 900 hours of tests during 400 trial flights since November 2008, when the plane made its first trial flight in Shanghai.
Comac is working to get U.S.Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification. If achieved, the ARJ21 will be the first Chinese commercial aircraft to receive U.S. approval.
China's AVIC International Holding Corporation signed a deal with Comac to sell 100 ARJ21-700 baseline models overseas at an air show held last November in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, which brought the number of the jet orders to 340 in total.
English.news.cn 2011-01-09 15:17:00 FeedbackPrintRSS
XI'AN, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The country's first homegrown regional jet ARJ21-700 is being tested to see how well it performs in the extreme cold of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China's flight testing establishment said Sunday.
The 78- to 90-seat aircraft completed a 3-hour flight from Xi'an in Shaanxi Province to Manzhouli City, Inner Mongolia, Thursday, according to the jet's manufacturer -- the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac).
A spokesman with the company confirmed the jet's cold-weather trial would continue for a week to test the performance of its hydraulics and other functions in Manzhouli, where the daily average temperature is 30 below zero.
The jet has a maximum flight range of 3,700 kilometers and maximum altitude of 11,900 meters.
So far, ARJ21-700 has completed more than 900 hours of tests during 400 trial flights since November 2008, when the plane made its first trial flight in Shanghai.
Comac is working to get U.S.Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification. If achieved, the ARJ21 will be the first Chinese commercial aircraft to receive U.S. approval.
China's AVIC International Holding Corporation signed a deal with Comac to sell 100 ARJ21-700 baseline models overseas at an air show held last November in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, which brought the number of the jet orders to 340 in total.
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