Expert predicts relations
with China to remain bad

'It's hard to imagine any short-
term improvement. This is not
a good time for us.'
James Auer
DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR U.S.-JAPAN
STUDIES AND COOPERATION AT VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
AND FORMER COMMANDER OF A GUIDED-MISSILE
FRIGATE BASED AT YOKOSUKA, JAPAN

By Susan Kreifels
Star-Bulletin

A specialist on the U.S. military presence in Asia predicts that relations with the Chinese military, hurt by NATO's recent bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia, will not improve much in the near future.

The timing is bad, said scholar and former Navy officer James Auer, coming amid debate in the United States over China's alleged stealing of nuclear secrets and illegal campaign funds.

The U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong announced yesterday that China has stopped all U.S. warships from making port calls in Hong Kong through June because of NATO's recent accidental bombing of the embassy in Belgrade.

China had already called off military cooperation with the United States.

"It's hard to imagine any short-term improvement," said Auer, director of the Center for U.S.-Japan Studies and Cooperation at Vanderbilt University and former commander of a guided-missile frigate based at Yokosuka, Japan. "This is not a good time for us."

Auer, speaking before the Japan-America Society of Hawaii yesterday on U.S.-Japan defense relations, called the temporary closing of Hong Kong "quite a blow." Auer made 11 port calls there during his Navy career.

Hong Kong is a popular rest-and-relaxation stop for the Navy, which has routinely anchored warships there since Britain handed over the territory to China in July 1997.

Lt. Sean Kelly, a spokesman for the Commander in Chief of Pacific forces, said two U.S. ships had been headed to Hong Kong and three others had pending port-call applications denied.

Kelly said ships pick up supplies and get repairs in Singapore and Japan.

A Chinese delegation that was to visit Hawaii at the end of the month for a humanitarian and disaster relief conference has postponed its visit since the embassy bombing. Kelly said he was not aware of any other changes.

A House committee yesterday concluded that China systematically stole significant U.S. nuclear design secrets. That followed the embassy bombing, which triggered four days of protests and brick-throwing around the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Congress has also been investigating political contributions made by the Chinese government.

Auer said average Chinese citizens believe the bombing was a deliberate act, and that the Clinton administration has mishandled foreign policy.

"The results are showing," Auer said.

Auer said U.S. maritime security in Asia and the Pacific depends on its security relationship with Japan, agreeing with other scholars that the relationship was "as vital as oxygen."

He also believes the United States, Japan and South Korea should jointly develop an early-warning system against missile attacks. With North Korea and China, "the power in Asia is still not balanced."