英文原文

Optimism Grows for U.S.-China Military Talks

The commander of American forces in the Pacific said Wednesday that he hoped a visit to the region by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton would lead to a resumption of high-level military exchanges with China.

“We hope she gets some traction, and we’re hoping for a resumption of that dialogue,” Adm. Timothy J. Keating, head of U.S. Pacific Command, said at a briefing in Hong Kong.

The official China Daily newspaper reported on Monday that the mainland was prepared to resume a dialogue between senior military officials. The report cited a Defense Ministry spokesman, Hu Changming, who said that discussions would be kept informal.

Mrs. Clinton also indicated in a speech last week that contacts between the two countries’ militaries would resume. But the two sides have not yet approved a date for doing so, nor have they agreed on who might attend.

Mrs. Clinton, on her first trip abroad for President Obama, was in Indonesia on Wednesday. She was scheduled to visit South Korea before arriving in Beijing on Friday.

China, angered over a major U.S. arms deal with Taiwan, broke off senior-level military exchanges with Washington last October. A defense white paper issued last month by the Chinese military said the arms sale had done “serious harm” to bilateral relations.

Admiral Keating confirmed Wednesday there was “no question” that the weapons deal, estimated to be worth $6.5 billion, had led to a suspension of what is colloquially known as the ‘’mil-to-mil relationship.”

“It’s our desire to have more exchanges with the Chinese,” Admiral Keating said. “We want to do more with them.”

He also offered to host face-to-face talks between Chinese and Taiwanese military officials at his headquarters in Hawaii. He said an easing of tensions between the two rivals was a U.S. priority, and he noted that the risk of military discord was “not insignificant to those of us in the region.”

The militaries of mainland China and Taiwan have had no contact for many years.

President Ma Ying-jeou took office last May with a campaign pledge to improve economic relations with the mainland and establish confidence-building measures, like a hotline, between the military establishments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Although a series of economic agreements have been reached — resulting in increased tourism, trade and direct transportation between Taiwan and the mainland — the People’s Liberation Army has shown little interest in discussions with Taiwan’s military.

In an interview in Taipei last week, President Ma said that the economic issues were more urgent, but he noted that Chinese President Hu Jintao had mentioned an interest in security cooperation and confidence-building measures in a statement on Dec. 31.

“We have made our intentions known to them,” Mr. Ma said, “and their positive responses have already created a more peaceful environment between the two sides in the international arena.”

Chiang Pin-kung, the chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, the semi-official institution that handles Taiwan’s negotiations with the mainland, said in a separate interview last week in Taipei that the foundation had a hotline to its mainland counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits.

Admiral Keating said he was encouraged by a more relaxed atmosphere, mentioning direct mail service and even the exchange of exotic animals. He called the developments helpful and important, “if not exactly earth-shattering.”

But he also expressed frustration over what the U.S. military considers a continuing lack of transparency on the part of senior military officials in China. Washington remains concerned about Chinese military expansion, he said, in the development of area-denial weapons, anti-satellite operations and cyber-warfare.

Increasing patrols and farther deployments of Chinese submarines were less worrisome, Admiral Keating said, than Beijing’s lack of clarity about its intentions. He described the military’s recent white paper as “not as forthcoming as the Chinese think it is.”

The last time he visited a senior general in Beijing, he said, he saw several telephones on the man’s desk and asked for his personal phone number so they could speak directly.

“He said he didn’t have a phone number yet,” the admiral said, rolling his eyes. “That’s frustrating.”

Admiral Keating did say a military hotline has been installed between Beijing and Hawaii. “It exists now. It works now. I’ve used it.”

The last time he called Beijing, he said, was in May, when he alerted Chinese officials that two U.S. military cargo planes were en route to China with humanitarian aid for victims of the Sichuan earthquake.

China’s goal of building one or more aircraft carriers was an ambitious one, Admiral Keating said, and he offered to give Chinese officers a tour of some American carriers.

But operating carriers at sea, he said, was difficult and expensive — “harder than they might think it will be right now.”

He said U.S. naval forces “would be willing to work with Chinese aircraft carriers,” just as they have cooperated with a small Chinese task force that has been operating in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden.

“They’re doing a good job,” he said of the two Chinese destroyers and a supply ship. “I congratulate them on a successful deployment. It’s hard to do.”

参考翻译

周三，美军太平洋司令部总司令表示，他希望希拉里访华能够促进中美军事高层互访。
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“希望她能带动互往，我们一直希望能开展恢复性对话，” 美军太平洋司令部总司令Adm. Timothy J. Keating在香港新闻发布会上说。
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China Daily在周一时报道，大陆准备重续中美高层军事官员之间的对话。该报道引用了国防部发言人胡昌明的话——双方将展开的只是非正式讨论。
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希拉里在上周的一次演讲中也提到两国的军事关系将会再续前缘。但双方都没有表明这样做的具体日期，也没有指出谁会参加对话。
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周三，希拉里为奥巴马效力的第一次出国访问于印度尼西亚开始。按照日程，她在周五访问中国之前会访问南韩。
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去年十月，因为美向台湾出售武器，中国愤而断绝了双方的高层军事互访。上个月中国国防部发布的国防白皮书指出，美国向台湾销售武器“严重损害”了双方关系。
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Admiral Keating周三时表示，毫无疑问，美国确实向台湾出售了价值约 65亿美元的武器，导致了中美双方军事关系的搁浅。
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“我们渴望与中国有更多的互访，” Admiral Keating说。“希望与他们有更多的交流。”
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他也提出，希望自己做东，招待大陆和台湾军事官员在夏威夷对话。他还表示，缓解大陆和台湾的关系是美国优先考虑的事情，军事关系的不调和“对我们来说并非无关紧要。”
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多年来，大陆和台湾的军事官员从未有过任何接触。
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马英九于去年5月执政，他在选举演说中保证提升双方的经济关系，建立互信措施，展开海峡两岸的军事对话。
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虽然一系列经济协议已经达成——旅游，贸易和两岸三通直线上升——人民解放军好像对与台湾军事高层展开对话毫无兴趣。

上个月一次采访中，马说，经济要放在第一位，但是他也提到，在12月31号的一次讲话中，胡锦涛对安全协作和互信措施也有兴趣。
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“我们已经向他们表明了意图，”马说，“他们的积极回应已经创造了双方更加和平的环境。”
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江丙坤，海峡交流基金会（协调两岸关系的半官方机构）主席在上周的一次采访中表示，该基金会与大陆的海峡两岸关系协会有热线往来。
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Admiral Keating说，他被目前缓和的氛围所鼓舞，特别值得一提的是邮购服务和珍稀动物互换。这些发展极其重要，也很有帮助，“即使不是震撼性的。”
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但是，他对美国军部与中国军事官员缺乏透明的交流表示沮丧。美国仍旧关注中国的军事扩张，他说，特别是在区域封锁武器，反卫星操作和电子战方面。
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与日俱增的巡逻和中国潜艇的大面积部署不是那么可怕，Admiral Keating说，关键是中国的意图让人捉摸不透。他认为中国国防部最近的白皮书“并没有表达出中国人真正的想法。”
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他说，上次他在北京拜访一位一级上将时，他看到那家伙桌子上有好几个电话，所以他问那人要他的私人电话以便于直接对话。
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“他回答说他没有私人电话，”他的眼睛四周溜转。“太令人沮丧了。”
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Admiral Keating确实说，北京和夏威夷已经建立了军事热线。“已经建立，也能工作，我用过。”
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他说他上次跟北京通话是五月的时候。他告知中国官员，两架美国军用飞机在飞往中国的路上，为四川地震的受难者提供人道主义帮助。
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中国想要建造一艘或者更多航空母舰的想法是非常有雄心的，Admiral Keating说，他可以为中国官员提供参观美国航空母舰的机会。
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但是他说，在海上操作航空母舰非常困难，耗资昂贵——“可能比他们现在想象的困难。”
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他表示，美国海军“乐意与中国合作制造航空母舰，”就像他们在海盗横行的亚丁湾和中国特种兵合作一样。
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“他们非常棒，”他称赞两艘中国驱逐舰和一艘供应舰。“恭喜他们有如此成功的部署，做到这样非常不容易。”