Pentagon paper bares US-Sino ties

WASHINGTON, Feb 20: A Pentagon document envisaging intensified high-level exchanges between the US and Chinese military officials has rai...

WASHINGTON, Feb 20: A Pentagon document envisaging intensified high-level exchanges between the US and Chinese military officials has raised security concerns in the Clinton administration in view of Beijing’s alleged help to Pakistan and Iran in nuclear technology.

The internal document, called "Game Plan for 1999 US/Sino Defense Exchanges", showed as many as 12 high level visits by Pentagon and China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officials, 40 "functional exchanges" of working level military officials, 16 confidence-building measures, and 13 international security meetings with PLA officials in near future, The Washington Times reported.

It said some administration officials are worried that such exchanges will expose to the Chinese sensitive US military know-how and boost China’s capability for invasion and long-range operations.

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Army General Henry H Shelton, chairman of the us Joint Chiefs of Staff is visiting China next month. Defence secretary William Cohen will travel to China in April andMarine Corps Commandant General Charles Krulak will visit Beijing in May. In October, Pentagon weapons acquisition and technology chief Jacques Gansler will also go to China.

Chinee military leaders scheduled to visit the US include General Yu Yongbo, member of the powerful Central Military Commission, described by US officials as a "hardline communist commissar." He will arrive in May.

The PLA navy commander is set to visit a navy nuclear missile submarine base in Washington and the Pentagon in June.

According to Pentagon plans, senior PLA generals will be allowed to view training manoeuvres in California by the US Army’s 3rd infantry division and will see an airdrop by paratroopers of the 82nd airborne division.

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The PLA is also scheduled to send several delegations of army, navy and air force officials involved in military logistics, apparently to learn how the US military supplies its forces during distant operations. Chinese weapons acquisition officials are also set to visit the Pentagon. Otherexchanges will help Chinese air force officials learn "flight safety" from the US Air Force, including information that could improve Chinese air power. The PLA will participate in an eight-week seminar on military medicine, and this could enhance its battlefield operations, critics said.

One Pentagon official who wished to remain anonymous told the paper: "there is an increase in transfer of (US) military know-how to China. It could be the highest level of military exchange in a decade."

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher was shocked by the plans. He said "there is no country in the world that we are more likely to be at war with 10 years from now than communist China, and there we are modernising their military. It is insanity."

A court in Antwerp passed the order initiating the formal process of bringing Choksi back to India. But, he still has options to challenge the order passed by the lower court.

Belgian court clears fugitive jeweller Mehul Choksi’s extradition to India

India39 min ago

Mehul Choksi, a fugitive diamantaire wanted in India for a Rs 13,000 crore loan fraud case, has been cleared for extradition by a court in Antwerp, Belgium. The Indian government has assured that Choksi will be held in a specific jail complex and provided with basic amenities if extradited. Choksi's extradition proceedings have advanced in Belgium and he has the option to challenge the order.

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