Incoming Joint Chiefs Chair Visits China

Adm. Mike Mullen Says Conflicts In Iraq And Afghanistan Not Diminishing U.S. Commitments To Asian Pacific

(AP)  Prolonged conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are not distracting the United States from its commitments and allies in the Asian Pacific region, the incoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday.

The shifting of additional Navy resources to the Pacific despite the fighting to the west showed the region's increasing importance to the United States, Adm. Mike Mullen said during a visit to China.

"On the Navy side, I haven't seen any diminishment in both capability or dedication to that as a result of the Iraq war," Mullen said.

Mullen, currently chief of Naval operations, said he had been given unprecedented access to China's navy during his visit, and indicated he would continue to nurture ties after taking over as President George W. Bush's main military adviser and leader of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

"I think this relationship ... is one of the most important in the world," Mullen told reporters.

Mullen said his trip had included a speech to midshipmen at a naval academy and the observation of naval exercises from on board a Chinese warship.

"There were several things that I did that I was told had not been done before," Mullen said.

"To get under way on a destroyer and to see an exercise that included air, submarine and surface exercises" was a first for a U.S. Naval officer, he said.

While Iraq and Afghanistan are the dominant U.S. security concerns, Washington has also said Beijing needs to do more to clear up questions about its rising military spending. Critics have complained that while the U.S. provides China ready access to its military hardware and facilities, China continues to hide its true capabilities.

"It is that long term 'where are you going?' question that is one that we need to reach a better understanding on," Mullen said.

The sides disagree most strongly over Taiwan — the self-governing island that China has threatened to take by force. The U.S. is committed to help the island defend itself and is Taipei's main arms supplier, angering China.

Mullen said Chinese officers raised Taiwan at "almost every discussion" but said their comments amounted to nothing new.

Mullen's visit follows one in April to the United States by the head of the Chinese navy, Vice Adm. Wu Shengli. Mullen said he asked for and received the same level of interaction and access provided to Wu, adding to growing interaction between the militaries that has included joint sea rescue drills, and a planned hot line between the Pentagon and China's Defense Ministry.

Mullen, seen as a pragmatist, also said he was heartened by the upcoming visit of Russia's naval chief to the U.S., despite new tensions in ties between Washington and Moscow.

"That is reflective of the commitment of the leadership" to dialogue, he said.