New US exports plan upsets Beijing

(Source Article: China anger at US exports plan - FT.com)

The US has new proposals underway that will limit exportation of high technology goods to China—a move that has angered not only Beijing, but US industry, whose competitive edge in the Chinese market will be severely affected. The new restrictions are a result of growing concern in US government circles about China’s increasingly powerful military.

Recently, the US Pacific Command invited Chinese military officials to view US military exercises in Guam; observers believe the move had a strategic purpose—to improve US-China military relations and perhaps open up an exchange whereby the US would be invited to view Chinese military exercises, and thus better gauge the strength of China’s increasingly modernized military. (see MAC warns of cozy US-China military relations – TAIPEI Times.com)

Further, after President Hu Jintao’s visit to the US in April, Chinese officials have reiterated their president’s message in aiming to increase dialogue, consideration, cooperation and mutual trust between the two governments—particularly trust in their respective military operations. (see China open to military exchanges with US – Xinhua news)

Will any amount of reassuring diplomacy between the US and China quash fears about the Chinese rise to global power? As the CATO Institute has remarked, most of the fear in the US government about China’s military is simply a result of a perceived need to have a very wide and sweeping US defensive barrier. (see Is Chinese Military Modernization a threat to the US? - CATO.org)