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SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Wednesday, December 5, 2001
Sino-US military ties set to resume
EXCLUSIVE by RAY CHEUNG
High-level military exchanges between China and the United States look set to resume
after a six-month suspension sparked by the spy plane incident in April, Pentagon
sources say.
A senior US Defence Department official was in Beijing negotiating the resumption, the
sources said.
''We are ready to engage China and now we're waiting to see what Beijing will agree
to,'' a senior Pentagon official said. A formal announcement is expected soon, after
the official returns to Washington this week.
According to another US military source, Washington would propose restarting strategic
defence consultations and meetings at the secretary and assistant-secretary level.
A resumption would signal a further significant improvement in Sino-US relations. All
military exchanges were suspended by the Pentagon after the Hainan incident in April
in which a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter collided, forcing the American plane to
land on the southern island. The American crew was held for 11 days. The Chinese pilot
died.
The Pentagon ordered all US military contacts with China, including social gatherings,
to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
According to the Pentagon official, the US wants to get exchanges back to the pre-2000
levels.
However, the resumption of exchanges may not include middle to low-level encounters
such as troop manoeuvres and medical operations as in the past. The Pentagon believed
these exchanges improved the operational capability of the Chinese military, the
military source said.
The planned resumption had been helped by China's support of the US-led war on
terrorism after the terrorist attacks on September 11, the source said.
The attacks had helped shift thinking among many at the Pentagon, who previously did
not want any contact with the Chinese military, particularly Deputy Defence Secretary
Paul Wolfowitz, one of China's harshest critics. ''September 11 changed everything.
People now see the value of having a strategic dialogue with China,'' the source said.
In late September, Chinese security experts met US officials to share intelligence on
the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
Last Friday, Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Guangya met US Undersecretary of State John
Bolton to discuss arms control. And at the weekend, the US 7th Fleet battle group made
a port call in Hong Kong.
Today, US ambassador-at-large Francis Taylor will meet Vice-Foreign Ministers Li
Zhaoxing and Wang Yi, and PLA Deputy Chief of Staff Xiong Guangkai for two days of
talks on the war against terrorism.
Wednesday, December 5, 2001
Senior manager could have prevented embassy bombing: CIA officer
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated at 12.00pm:
A CIA operative claims in a lawsuit that the US bombing of the Chinese Embassy in
Belgrade in 1999 could have been avoided if his boss had checked sources with
firsthand knowledge of the Yugoslav capital.
The operative is a 46-year-old of Russian origin identified in the lawsuit only by the
pseudonym ''Mitford.'' A statement from his lawyers says he was among mid- and
lower-ranking agency employees ''falsely blamed'' for the mistaken bombing, which left
three Chinese journalists dead.
The United States called the May 7, 1999, attack a mistake caused by faulty
intelligence and use of outdated maps. The CIA says it fired one official and
disciplined six others, none of whom were identified. The United States repeatedly
apologised for the attack, paid the Chinese government US$28 million in compensation
and promised US$4.5 million to those injured and families of three journalists killed
in the bombing in the Yugoslav capital.
The lawsuit was filed in 1999 in US District Court in Washington. The operative's
claims about the targeting error during Nato's air war against Yugoslavia were
included in a newly amended version released this week.
Mitford's boss, who also is not identified, received a verbal reprimand before being
promoted to a position with the National Security Council, the lawsuit says. It says
''Mitford'' received harsher treatment than those who had more direct responsibility
for the incident.
The CIA officer's claim was in a newly released, unclassified version of a
wide-ranging lawsuit by 15 current and former CIA employees. The employees, all
unidentified, accuse the agency of misconduct in a variety of areas. Many allege that
the agency used secrecy rules to prevent them from pursuing labour and discrimination
grievances or working with attorneys.
CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield refused to discuss the operative's specific claims but
said the agency has been forthcoming about errors during the targeting process in
Yugoslavia. George Tenet, then the CIA director, testified about the matter in
congressional hearings.
The lawsuit's claims of agency misuse of secrecy rules are ''ridiculous,'' Mr
Mansfield said.
Pop star under fire for posing in outfit with Japanese flag
STAFF REPORTER in Beijing
Prev. Story | Next Story
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Acclaimed television star and pop darling Zhao Wei has defended herself
against critics who branded her a traitor for appearing in a fashion magazine wearing
a dress emblazoned with a wartime Japanese flag.
Despite improving relations, Ms Zhao's photo shoot in the September issue
of Fashion Magazine poured salt on wounds most Chinese still feel from Japan's
invasion and the Nanjing Massacre during World War II.
"Why were so many Chinese women raped at the hands of the Japanese? Unless
she was physically forced, there is nothing she can say to defend herself," said a Net
surfer on Sina.com.
Nearly 1,000 Chinese have voiced their opinions online, urging a public
apology and a boycotting of Ms Zhao's albums, films and TV appearances.
People even began questioning their desire for Japanese cars, electronics
and food, many keen to boycott all Japanese goods.
But in a statement released to Sina.com through her manager, Chen Rong, Ms
Zhao asserted that even if people were upset with the photographs, she should not be
blamed for poor judgment.
"The magazine is controlled by the State Information and Press Bureau.
Could anything that was truly so militaristic actually have been approved and
published?" the statement read.
In addition to noting that the Japanese flag dress was one of many she
wore, and that the dress was also emblazoned with positive Chinese characters meaning
health, peace, prosperity and hygiene, Ms Zhao said she, too, was concerned: "I was a
little suspicious when I saw the Japanese flag pattern. But a designer from New York
explained that this was a new American design. Perhaps he didn't really understand
Chinese history."
Ms Zhao denied she was promoting militarism and said she was proud to be
the granddaughter of revolutionaries who fought Japanese wartime aggression.
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