Chinese to tour sensitive facilities

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/default-2000824224615.htm

Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Published 8/24/00

The Pentagon is hosting a group of Chinese strategic military planners
whose trip to sensitive U.S. military facilities is raising questions
in Congress about violations of law.

The delegation from China's Academy of Military Sciences arrived
Friday and is headed by Gen. Wang Zuxun, the new head of the academy
that is developing military doctrine on how China can use advanced
technology to defeat more powerful foes like the United States, said
Pentagon officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The group traveled earlier this week to several U.S. military schools,
but its visit today to the Joint Forces Command in Norfolk is causing
concern among some members of Congress and officials in the Pentagon.

The command is where the U.S. military is developing its most advanced
war-fighting techniques and doctrine information known to be a target
of Chinese military spying.

Sen. Robert C. Smith, New Hampshire Republican, said allowing Chinese
military officials to visit the command appears to violate recent
congressional legislation he co-sponsored that prohibits the Pentagon
from helping China develop war-fighting capabilities.

The law was sponsored jointly by Mr. Smith and Rep. Tom DeLay, Texas
Republican, and created what the Pentagon calls the Smith-DeLay
guidelines for Chinese military exchanges.

"I am shocked that DoD appears to be thwarting the law with regard to
the Smith/DeLay U.S.-P.R.C. military-to-military restrictions," Mr.
Smith told The Washington Times in a statement.

Mr. Smith said the visit to the Joint Forces Command could help
China's military learn sensitive data on U.S. advanced war-fighting
experiments.

"The congressional restrictions specifically prohibit inappropriate
exposure to joint war-fighting experimentation," Mr. Smith said. "Why
should the Pentagon be seen to be facilitating Beijing in the pursuit
of that goal when, on an almost daily basis, the [People's Republic of
China] is threatening to attack democratic Taiwan and the United
States itself if we intervened to defend Taiwan?"

Mr. DeLay also said he was troubled by the visit.

"It's incredible that the Clinton-Gore administration is acting as
tour guides for People's Liberation Army officials visiting sensitive
American military facilities when only last week it stopped members of
Congress from meeting with the democratically elected leader of Taiwan
when he was visiting Los Angeles," Mr. DeLay told The Times.

Three Chinese generals are among the group, including Gen. Wang, a
former ground forces commander. The academy is China's leading
military think tank for the so-called revolution in military affairs
modern, high-technology warfare. It also specializes in developing
doctrine on "information warfare"  attacks on computers and
electronic-based infrastructures.

The Chinese military delegation is part of the Pentagon's military
exchange program with China, which has come under fire from critics,
who say it will boost China's military.

The visit will continue through Sept. 1. The itinerary includes
meetings at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the Army War
College in Pennsylvania, the Army's Training and Doctrine Command at
Fort Monroe, Va., and the U.S. Pacific Command in Honolulu. The group
will visit the Pentagon later this week.

Asked if the visit will conform to the Smith-DeLay guidelines, a
defense official said the Pentagon believes it does.

However, the official said Congress was not informed about the places
where the Academy of Military Sciences officials will visit. The
official said Congress was notified earlier of the general outline of
the entire military-to-military exchange program that included "a
forecast" of the visit.

The Chinese visit to Norfolk comes during a current war-fighting
experiment called Joint Deployment Process Improvement, which
simulates a major military deployment.

A Pentagon description of the experiment says it is designed "to
improve joint war-fighting capabilities."

The restrictions on Chinese military exchanges specifically prohibit
any exchanges that will improve China's joint war-fighting
capabilities, an area the Chinese military is known to be working on.

The command also is the location of the Joint Training Analysis and
Simulation Center and the Joint Experimentation Battle Lab.

Cmdr. Linc Smith, a command spokesman, had no immediate comment when
asked if the Chinese will be permitted to visit those facilities.

The defense official said the purpose of hosting the visit is to
expose the Chinese to the U.S. "military education system."

However, other Pentagon officials said China's Academy of Military
Sciences (AMS) is not involved in military education. It is a military
strategic doctrine and planning center for advanced war-fighting
concepts, including plans for how to forcibly reunite Taiwan with the
mainland.

A Pentagon-sponsored study on China's military states that the academy
produces classified reports for the Chinese military's strategic
planning process.

"Of all the research institutes, AMS is the most secretive and least
visited by foreigners," the book, "China Debates the Future Security
Environment" by Michael Pillsbury, states.

"It performs analysis for the Central Military Commission and the
General Staff Department," it said. Among the known topics of its
research are border security, guidance for "strategies and battles
under high-technology conditions," and the regularization of the
Chinese armed forces.

The academy has no students and no classes, raising suspicions among
some officials that the current delegation is on an intelligence- and
technology-collection mission.

The academy was modeled on the former Soviet General Staff Academy. It
has cooperated with the Commission on Science, Technology and Industry
for National Defense, China's main foreign weapons technology
collector.


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