US not trying to hold China down, says Robert Gates

[Gerald]

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/7744/506999990109618791.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/39/506999990109618791.jpg/)
China has increased military funding as its economy has grown.

The US is not trying to hold China down or block it as a global power, Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said.

Mr Gates said he felt that US-China relations were in "a pretty good place" but continuing dialogue was essential.

He was speaking as he flew to a conference in Singapore which will include a delegation led by China's Defence Minister, Liang Guanglie.

China has been expanding its military and resents US arms sales to Taiwan, but has restarted US military talks.

"There is value in a continuing dialogue by the two sides on just exactly what our concerns are, what our issues are and how we might alleviate those concerns on both sides," said Mr Gates.

Balance of powers

"We are not trying to hold China down. China has been a great power for thousands of years.

"It is a global power and will be a global power. So the question is how we work our way through this in a way that ensures that we continue to have positive relations," Mr Gates said.

"I think the Chinese have learned a powerful lesson from the Soviet experience," he said, in an apparent reference to over-spending on military goals to the detriment of the economy.

"They do not intend to try to compete with us across the full range of our capabilities but I think they are intending to develop capabilities that give them a considerable freedom of action in Asia and the opportunity to extend their influence."

China has no intention to match US military power, a top Chinese general said on a visit to Washington last month.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13624710

Note: 2 June 2011 Last updated at 04:15 GMT

[Gerald]

China has been a great power for thousands of years[/QUOTE] Certainly in historic proportions, but you are there in the moment as regards, and it is, and will prove weaknesses even there.

[Betonov]

Of course US is trying to hold China down. And vice versa. It's politics

[Castout]

Of course US is trying to hold China down. And vice versa. It's politics

No they just can't do that and if they did try it would be futile. China rise into global political and military power is inevitable.

But China like the article mentioned or quoted is primarily looking for Asia dominance and do not yet wish to be trying to be a global military presence any time soon.

The question is if things continue to be well for China what will come next after Asia dominance? But that's probably a question that should only be asked at least 30 years from now.

[Gerald]

As stated above, it is about various political moves, and both countries are again on their way, while they negotiated commitments under the table.

[mookiemookie]

Of course US is trying to hold China down. And vice versa. It's politics

Winner winner chicken dinner. Frankly I'd be a little concerned if the U.S. wasn't trying to undercut a rival.

[joegrundman]

Winner winner chicken dinner. Frankly I'd be a little concerned if the U.S. wasn't trying to undercut a rival.

but how far do you think the us should go to do that?

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

In fact, if we enjoy our modern world pattern of relative equality between nations, I'll say the "Free World" would do well to delay China's rise to dominance by a decade or two, even at a fairly heavy short term price (such as by instituting a devastating trade war that will hurt us but knock them back 10 years).

China's rise has to happen - you can't keep the world's most populous nation suppressed forever. However, our world will probably change a lot, and in a way we would not like, if we change from what is effectively an American suzerainty to a Chinese one at its present pace.

While for its time, Chinese suzerainty was relatively even-handed, it is a far sight from America's, at least as far as the "First World" nations are concerned,. Leaving their human rights record aside, their international behavior says they are still too close to 1979 when they attacked Vietnam - the most galling thing there is not so much that they attacked Vietnam (America attacks plenty of countries it dislikes), but when Deng Xiaoping described it to the Americans as "hitting the butts of naughty children". And there, we see that they are still linked to the ancient pattern of Sinocentric suzerainty.

Of course, the Chinese themselves are (though slowed by Chinese censorship), slowly absorbing Western thought, so there's hope of change to the Chinese people's zeitgeist, enough to make their new suzerainty a palatable experience. But their economic and military growth is going a bit too fast for it.

Of course, one disadvantage of democracies is that they are almost entirely incapable of taking such strategic action - short term interests or worse impulses always comes first.

Maybe we'll get lucky. Maybe the Chinese will do a massacre that we can't ignore. But they learned from Tianammen, so I'm not holding out hope.

[Onkel Neal]

It's time to negotiate a resolution to Taiwan and move forward. There's no reason the US and China have to develop a rivalry, or be antagonistic.

[Gerald]

They know the movements and forces that are, so it serves not to get involved with a cat and mouse game.