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Japan refusal adds to US-China carrier spat
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington and Mure Dickie in Beijing
Published: November 29 2007 23:22 | Last updated: November 30 2007 04:19
Japan has refused a Chinese request to tour an advanced combat ship as the US-China spat over Beijing’s refusal to allow a US aircraft carrier to dock in Hong Kong last week spilled over into Sino-Japanese military relations.
A person familiar with the Japanese decision said that the Pentagon said the move would not be appropriate given China’s decision last week to deny the USS Kitty Hawk permission to dock in Hong Kong over Thanksgiving.
the move marred the historic visit this week of a Chinese missile destroyer to Japan, the first by a Chinese naval ship since the second world war. China had requested that the sailors on the Shenzhen be allowed to tour an Aegis-class destroyer, but the Pentagon opposed the move.
He added that the US was also concerned about the leaking of sensitive information. The Pentagon was concerned given the previous unauthorised removal of a computer disk from an Aegis destroyer that hurt otherwise strong US-Japanese military relations.
The White House on Thursday asked China to clarify statements that the move to block the Kitty Hawk from entering Hong Kong was not a misunderstanding.
The White House said on Wednesday that Yang Jiechi, China’s foreign minister, had told Mr Bush on a visit that the Kitty Hawk decision was the result of a “misunderstanding”. However, Liu Jianchao, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, on Thursday denied the US account, saying it “did not accord with the facts”.
Beijing’s decision to block the Kitty Hawk visit and earlier barring of two US destroyers from taking refuge in Hong Kong from a storm has angered the US navy and threatened the recent warming in cross-Pacific military ties.
Mr Liu declined to give a clear account of why the Kitty Hawk had been denied permission to enter Hong Kong for what would have been a routine festival port visit. Beijing reversed the decision after it was made public, but the carrier had already sailed for its home port in Japan.
Mr Liu appeared to suggest the decision had been intended as a diplomatic signal. While Sino-US ties were generally progressing well, Beijing was unhappy about the US president’s recent meeting with the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, and about Washington’s decision to sell weapons to Taiwan, he said.
His comments were made after a Communist party newspaper quoted an unnamed senior naval officer in the People’s Liberation Army as saying the refusal was prompted by the US’s sale of weapons to Taiwan, including an upgrade to the Patriot anti-missile defence system.
“This all happened because the US first seriously harmed Chinese interests and Sino-US ties,” said the Global Times, which is a populist tabloid arm of the ruling party’s People’s Daily newspaper.
Ms Perino said Mr Yang had told Mr Bush that the “misunderstanding” was caused by poor communication and he had never suggested that China was responding to the Dalai Lama’s visit or the Taiwan arms sales announcement.
But if the refusal was meant to send a message, Beijing is unlikely to be pleased by the way it has been read in Washington. Some observers there have raised questions about China’s chain of command.
A senior US official said on Wednesday that the Chinese foreign ministry appeared to have been caught “flat-footed” by the original decision on the Kitty Hawk’s visit. He added that the quick reversal meant Hu Jintao, China’s president, had not approved it in advance.
However, Dennis Blair, a retired admiral and the former head of US Pacific Command, said the rapid U-turn might show that the original decision in Beijing was closely contested, and that officials decided to reverse the move after the level of US anger became apparent.
Several experts said China might have miscalculated the significance of the Thanksgiving holiday for the sailors and their families.
On Wednesday the Pentagon summoned General Zhao Ning, the Chinese defence attaché in Washington, to a hear a formal protest. But Mr Liu told a routine press conference in Beijing that China had not received any official remonstration.
On Thursday, the Pentagon attempted to tone down the dispute, which had threatened to develop into a bigger spat. Bryan Whitman, Pentagon spokesman, said that while ”this was an unfortunate incident...we’re going to move past it”.
Opacity in Chinese military action is not new. Early this year the PLA took the world – and Chinese diplomats – by surprise by successfully testing an anti-satellite weapon. Beijing has yet to explain the thinking behind the test.
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