November 01, 2006
Marine Corps Times

Chinese officers visit Pendleton

By John Hoellwarth
Staff writer

A delegation of about 30 Chinese army officers visited I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif., on Tuesday and was shown the Corps’ war-game simulator and the School of Infantry, according to an MEF spokesman.

The Chinese officers, each a midlevel commander in the People’s Liberation Army, have been touring U.S. military installations since Monday and are slated to return to China on Friday, MEF spokesman Navy Lt. Cliff Carnes said.


The delegation was in Monterey, Calif., on Wednesday, touring the Naval Postgraduate School and the Defense Language Institute, Carnes said.

The visit presents “opportunities for valuable cooperation” between the U.S. and China, which “have mutual security interests,” he said.

“More transparency between China and the U.S. on a consistent, long-term basis will help to build a spirit of mutual trust between our two countries,” Carnes said.



Chinese Officers to Tour U.S. Bases

Forbes
By AUDREY McAVOY 10.29.06, 8:24 PM ET

A Chinese military delegation will begin a five-day tour of U.S. military installations in Hawaii and California on Monday and meet with senior U.S. officers in the latest step to repair military ties between the two countries.

About 30 midlevel military commanders in the People's Liberation Army, including division and brigade commanders, will visit U.S. Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii, tour a guided missile destroyer in San Diego and observe a Marine training at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

It is the third such visit by Chinese military officers since the countries agreed last October to increase military exchanges.

U.S. military officials say the visits foster understanding between the militaries, which have shared a frosty relationship since a U.S. spy plane and Chinese fighter jet collided off China's coast in April 2001.

"It's a great opportunity for us to talk directly with PLA officers, with senior, mid-grade PLA commanders," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Roger Cavazos, senior China country director at the U.S. Pacific Command.

"It's that direct interaction, that direct contact that really helps us allay mutual suspicions and move forward with this process of engaging and dealing more with the PLA," he said.

The delegation is expected to tour the USS Preble in San Diego and observer a demonstration of an amphibious assault vehicle and weapons simulation training at Camp Pendleton.

U.S. officials, not wanting to show their counterparts too many U.S. military capabilities, denied Chinese requests to tour an active U.S. aircraft carrier and see the Army's newest troop transporter, the Stryker armored vehicle.

China showed a U.S. military delegation that visited the country in March antiquated planes and ships dating to the late 1960s and early 1970s.

"I won't say they're open; I won't say they're anywhere near being open," Cavazos said. "I will say the trend is positive."

U.S. critics of the engagement strategy say the United States is baring itself to Chinese examination without obtaining similar access to Chinese facilities and equipment in return.

But Adm. William J. Fallon, the Pacific Command commander, said U.S. officers need the interaction to better understand one of the world's most rapidly growing economic and military powers, and said he expects China to reciprocate.

The delegation is expected to visit the decommissioned battleship Missouri and the sunken battleship USS Arizona during its tour.



Chinese military group heads to US

AP, HONOLULU
Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006, Page 5

Advertising A delegation of about 30 mid-level Chinese military commanders will travel to California and Hawaii this week in the latest step by the US and China to repair military ties after the 2001 collision of a US spy plane and a Chinese military plane off China's coast.
People's Liberation Army (PLA) officers -- many of them division or brigade commanders -- are expected to visit a guided missile destroyer in San Diego, meet Marines at Camp Pendleton, California, and to call on US Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii.

The US military views the five-day tour, which started yesterday, as a way to demonstrate US capabilities and alleviate any fears China might have about US military might. US commanders also look forward to getting insights into how Chinese military leaders think through numerous discussions planned with the visitors.

"It's a great opportunity for us to talk directly with PLA officers, with senior, mid-grade PLA commanders. You just can't beat it," said US Army Lieutenant Colonel Roger Cavazos, senior China country director at the US Pacific Command.

"It's that direct interaction, that direct contact that really helps us allay mutual suspicions and move forward with this process of engaging and dealing more with the PLA," he said.

It is the third such visit by Chinese officers since US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his Chinese counterparts agreed last October to increase military exchanges. Earlier exchange programs all but froze after a US spy plane and Chinese fighter jet collided off China's coast in April 2001.

Bilateral military relations are still frosty.

In February, the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review said China had the greatest potential among major and emerging powers to compete militarily with the US. Many US officials are cautiously monitoring Beijing's decade-long double-digit defense spending increases, questioning what China plans to do with its newly acquired equipment.

In San Diego, the delegation will tour the USS Preble and be briefed on the ship's capabilities and mission. Marines at Camp Pendleton will display an amphibious assault vehicle and some weapons simulation training. In Hawaii, commanders will discuss humanitarian assistance missions.

Still, the visitors will not be treated to tours of everything they requested. An aircraft carrier is not on the itinerary, even though the Chinese asked to visit one and San Diego is the homeport for two of the ships. The US is also not fulfilling a request to see a Stryker armored vehicle.

That is because the US does not want to give Chinese commanders access to more of its military than US commanders have been given during visits to China.

Hope they bring their GPS's to get good target fixes.  

WTF    .....   is this for real!

Why don't we just invite the North Koreans, Iranian, Syrians, and that dork Chavez!  

I think one of them is named "yintao" and he got here early and found ARFcom.

BFD... not.

Trust me, they did it because it benefitted US to do so.  It's not like we were handing out loaded KYK-13's as door prizes...

Fight4yourrights: Hope they bring their GPS's to get good target fixes.

The Chinese don't need GPS. They already now where that stuffs at.

Actually I think this is a good thing. It's easy for Chicoms officers to be lured into a false sense of their own superiority by both their own propaganda and our anti-military news media. Its good for them to get a look at the elephant. These are Chinese officers that will return home and know the awsome and awful truth, of what the American military really is...not the shit they were told at the Party meeting.

Both Rommel and Yamamoto had been on such tours and both of them knew they might win a couple of battles, but that in the end the U.S. military would crush them.

Hell, lets take 'em out to a Minuteman III silo and let 'em put there hand on the nose cone.....so that they might know the truth of what war with us would be.