U.S.-China Military Contacts: Issues for Congress - Foreign Press ...

U.S.-China Military Contacts: Issues for Congress
moved to the forefront of the agenda with China (up to the level of the President). The next day,
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified to the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence, stressing cyber threats that top global threats to the United States. In a phone call
with top PRC leader Xi Jinping on March 14, President Obama raised cyber threats as a “shared
challenge.” According to the PRC Foreign Ministry, Xi expressed awareness that cyber security
concerns have grown increasingly acute internationally, opposition to hacking, and willingness to
talk about cyber security. However, some skeptics, such as former Secretary of Homeland
Security Michael Chertoff, warned that diplomacy would not end China’s cyber threats. 112
Counterterrorism
The PRC’s cooperation in counterterrorism after the attacks on September 11, 2001, has not
included military cooperation with the U.S. military. The U.S. Commanders of the Central and
Pacific Commands, General Tommy Franks and Admiral Dennis Blair, separately confirmed in
April 2002 that China did not provide military cooperation (nor was it requested) in Operation
Enduring Freedom against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan (e.g., basing, staging, or overflight) and that
China’s shared intelligence was not specific enough. Also, the Pentagon issued a report in June
2002 on the international coalition fighting terrorism and did not include China among the
countries providing military contributions. China has provided diplomatic support, cited by the
State Department. U.S.-PRC counterterrorism cooperation has been limited, while U.S. concerns
have increased about the PRC’s increased influence in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO) and its call for U.S. withdrawals from Central Asia, and about PRC-origin small arms and
anti-aircraft missiles found in Afghanistan and Iraq. 113
Some have urged caution in military cooperation with China on this front, while others see
benefits for the U.S. relationship with China and the war on terrorism. Senator Bob Smith and
Representative Dana Rohrabacher wrote Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld in late 2001, to express
concerns about renewed military contacts with China. In part, they argued that “China is not a
good prospect for counterterrorism cooperation,” because of concerns that China has practiced
internal repression in the name of counterterrorism and has supplied technology to rogue regimes
and state sponsors of terrorism. 114 In contrast, a report by Rand in 2004 urged a program of
security management with China that includes counterterrorism as one of three components. 115
As preparations intensified for the summer Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, a policy issue
concerned the extent to which the United States, including the U.S. military, should support
security at the games to protect U.S. citizens and should cooperate with the PLA and the
paramilitary PAP. With concerns about internal repression by the PRC regime in the Tiananmen
Crackdown of June 1989 and after, U.S. sanctions (in §902 of the Foreign Relations
Authorization Act for FY1990-FY1991, P.L. 101-246) have denied the export to China of defense
articles/services, including helicopters, as well as crime control equipment. Presidential waivers
are authorized. A precedent was set in 2004, when various U.S. departments, including the
Department of Defense, provided security assistance for the Olympic games in Athens, Greece, in
2004. On June 22, 2006, at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee, Brigadier General
112 Interview with Michael Chertoff, Defense News, March 11, 2013.
113 See CRS Report RL33001, U.S.-China Counterterrorism Cooperation: Issues for U.S. Policy, by Shirley A. Kan.
114
Senator Bob Smith and Representative Dana Rohrabacher, letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld,
December 17, 2001.
115
Rand, “U.S.-China Security Management: Assessing the Military-to-Military Relationship,” July 2004.
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