By Shannon Tiezzi
Hagel’s first official visit to China devolved into a verbal game of “hot potato” with his counterpart.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel continued his China tour today, holding discussions with Chinese military leaders in Beijing. As expected, those talks (at least the aspects that were made public) were rocky, with each side seeming more interested in hammering home its well-known positions rather than holding a dialogue.
Hagel’s tour started out on a high note, with the U.S. Defense Secretary becoming the first foreign observer to tour China’s aircraft carrier. Chinese media outlets trumpeted the visit as a triumph of Chinese transparency. A piece in China Daily called Hagel’s time aboard the Liaoning “only one of many strides China has taken to assure the international community of its good faith in defense.” U.S. officials also seem to have accepted the tour as a positive sign, with one military official telling Reuters the Liaoning tour was “an honest, genuine effort to be open.”
Still, for some U.S. analysts (including The Diplomat’s Harry Kazianis), the gesture only underscored how far China has to go with military transparency. The U.S. often nudges China in public remarks to be more open about its military capabilities and intentions. Incremental progress on this front hasn’t done much to stem U.S. criticism. The U.S. argues that an increase in Chinese transparency could reduce tensions in the area by reassuring China’s neighbors that its military build-up is in fact defensive in nature.
Read the full story at The Diplomat