WASHINGTON, March 23 (UPI) -- Military communication between China and the United States should be improved, U.S. legislative aides largely agreed Friday.
Earlier in the day in Beijing, Marine General Peter Pace told reporters that China's military actions in recent months have been "confusing," most notably over its destruction of a weather satellite. In January, the Chinese used an anti-satellite missile to destroy an old satellite but did not confirm that fact for at least a week.
A handful of Capitol Hill staffers who took part in the Heritage Foundation briefing on Asia agreed with Pace that there was room for further open communication between the two countries.
"It's pretty clear what they were going towards," said Todd Stiefler, military legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ).
Panelists agreed with Pace's goal of further investing into the relationship between the United States and China and noted China's multi-faceted space warfare capability already in progress, along with the existence of their complex espionage plans.
On March 4, China announced a 17.8 percent increase to their military budget for 2007.
The possibility of conflict between the United States and China looms large on the horizon, Stiefler argued. At the same time, he cautioned against over-simplifying the situation by categorizing China as a "friend or foe," since that is "not really a helpful way to get any sort of analytical traction on the issue -- we want to look at China's interests, capabilities and how they are likely to behave in the future."
