Cable guy presses Panetta on China’s Shangri-la no show
Singapore – Your humble Cable guy pressed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta today on how he interprets China’s decision to send zero senior level officials to the 2012 IISS Shangri-la Security Dialogue, a reversal of Chinese engagement at last year’s event. Panetta didn’t address the question head on but rather emphasized that while the U.S.-China ...
Singapore – Your humble Cable guy pressed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta today on how he interprets China’s decision to send zero senior level officials to the 2012 IISS Shangri-la Security Dialogue, a reversal of Chinese engagement at last year’s event.
Panetta didn’t address the question head on but rather emphasized that while the U.S.-China relationship is destined to have its ups and downs, increased engagement with China is the necessary way forward.
"We’re not naïve about the relationship and neither is China. But we also both understand that there really is no alternative but to engage and to improve our communications and improve our relationships," he said. "That’s’ the kind of mature relationship we need to ultimately have with China."
In an interview with The Cable after Panetta’s remarks, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) gave their own take on why the Chinese were no-shows here in Singapore.
"Last year the defense minister was here and his speech was excellent, but after the question and answer session, it wasn‘t exactly a public relations success," said McCain. "They’ve had a series of scandals, they’ve had some significant issues, they’re inherently cautious. So I can understand why they wouldn’t come."
"When I first came to the Shangri-la Dialogue in 2008 everybody was asking, is the U.S. receding from the Asia-Pacific," said Lieberman. "Here we are in 2012 with a very comprehensive show of American commitment to this region, a dramatic contrast to the absence of any high ranking officials from the Chinese government… they are the big elephant that’s out of the room."
Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.
Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.
A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.
Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin
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