Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has wrapped up a four-day visit to China that included jaunts to the Nanjing Military Region and the Shenyang Military Region, where he examined an Su-27 fighter bomber and observed Chinese land-combat exercises. During a press conference at the American Embassy in Beijing on Friday, Pace said that he had held “good, open, candid and calm” talks with his Chinese counterpart, General Liang Guanglie, Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan, and General Guo Boxiong, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission. Pace suggested that a hot line between the two militaries could be helpful, and said he had agreed to study a Chinese proposal to send cadets to West Point and to conduct joint humanitarian and rescue-at-sea exercises. Pace said he had urged his Chinese counterparts to be more transparent about the country’s military intentions:
Pace noted further that his host had given him no details on the test, nor did they explain to him their intentions in conducting it. On China’s declared military budget, which will increase by 17.8 percent to almost $45 billion this year, Pace had this to say:
This portion of Pace’s message seems to have been lost in translation by the Chinese media, which failed to include the above-quoted remarks in their coverage of the press conference.
Xinhua’s Chinese-language report, reproduced verbatim by People’s Daily, carries the title “Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Pace: China Is Not A Threat.” The piece leads with the statement “Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace, currently visiting China, says that China is not a threat despite its sizable military.” It goes on to say “Pace indicated that the two sides agreed to continue discussions toward establishing a hotline between the two militaries” to prevent future misunderstandings. There is no reference to Pace’s call for more transparency in China’s military. Pace’s call for greater transparency also fails to appear in the report in the English-language China Daily, titled “Pace: China-US hotline to help build trust.” Also conspicuously absent from Xinhua’s Chinese-language report is mention of Pace’s statements concerning Taiwan. Xinhua’s English report, on the other hand, devotes four paragraphs to the subject. Titled “Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff sees no threat from China,” this version states:
The English-language China Daily report, on the other hand, mentions Taiwan only briefly. It quotes Pace as saying “President Bush said he doesn’t support Taiwan independence.”
