U.S., China Affirm Military Ties During Hu Visit to Washington

By Carol L. Bowers

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2011 – The United States and China have affirmed that a healthy, stable and reliable military-to-military relationship is an essential part of a shared vision for a positive U.S.-China relationship, President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao said in a joint statement issued today.

Hu is paying a state visit to the United States Jan. 18 to 21, and the statement came on the second day of his trip, which included meetings with Obama and a joint press conference.

“Both sides agreed on the need for enhanced and substantive dialogue and communication at all levels: to reduce misunderstanding, misperception, and miscalculation; to foster greater understanding and expand mutual interest; and to promote the healthy, stable, and reliable development of the military-to-military relationship,” Obama and Hu said in their statement.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates recently met with Hu in China during a recent tour of East Asia to discuss security issues. Gates attended Hu’s arrival ceremony today.

Obama and Hu termed Gates’ visit to China “successful” and noted the United States will in turn welcome the Chief of the People’s Liberation Army General Staff Gen. Chen Bingde to the United States in the first half of 2011.

In the joint statement, the two sides also reaffirmed that the Defense Consultative Talks, the Defense Policy Coordination Talks, and the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement will remain important channels of communication in the future. Both sides will work to execute the seven priority areas for developing military-to-military relations as agreed to by Gates and Gen. Xu Caihou, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission in October 2009.

During the joint press conference today, Obama said he also has conveyed to the Chinese president “that that we appreciated China’s role in reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and we agreed that North Korea must avoid further provocations.”

“I also said that North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile program is increasingly a direct threat to the security of the United States and our allies,” Obama added. “ We agreed that the paramount goal must be complete denuclearization of the peninsula. In that regard, the international community must continue to state clearly that North Korea’s uranium enrichment program is in violation of North Korea’s commitments and international obligations.”

Discussions between Obama and Hu also included other global security issues.

“With respect to global security, I’m pleased that we’re moving ahead with President Hu’s commitment at last year’s Nuclear Security Summit for China to establish a center of excellence, which will help secure the world’s vulnerable nuclear materials,” Obama said during the press conference.

“To prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, we agreed that Iran must uphold its international obligations and that the U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran must be fully enforced."

Clinton: Gates’ China Trip Continues Holbrooke’s Vision

By Lisa Daniel

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2011 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates’ trip to China this week advanced U.S. relations there, continuing the groundwork laid by Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke, who’d years ago worked to open diplomatic relations with China, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said today.

Holbrooke, who was serving as special U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan when he died Dec. 13, will be honored in a memorial service here today, with Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among the dignitaries scheduled to speak.

Clinton made the remarks as the first speaker of the State Department’s Richard C. Holbrooke Lecture Series here. “This is a bittersweet moment for me, personally, to give this inaugural lecture,” she said, praising Holbrooke as a “tireless negotiator” who left “an indelible mark on this department, this country and the world.”

Among his many missions, Holbrooke was a key player in opening formal diplomatic relations with China in the 1970s and served as president of the U.S.-Asia Relations Society, Clinton noted.

More than three decades later, Gates carried on that vision with his trip to Beijing, where he met with Chinese President Hu Jintao, as well as the country’s defense and foreign ministers. Gates’ trip was focused on re-establishing military-to-military relations with China, which pulled away last year in response to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

At the end of his visit Jan. 12, Gates called his meetings in Beijing “productive” and said they set the stage to take U.S.-China military-to-military relations “to the next level.”

Hu is scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House next week, when, Clinton said, “the breadth of our engagement will be on full display.”

The United States and China have much to gain by working together on regional security threats like North Korea and Iran, on the global economy, and humanitarian missions, Clinton said. And, still, she added, the United States will continue to press Chinese officials to release political prisoners and expand freedom of speech and religion for its citizens.

“This is not a relationship that fits neatly into black-and-white categories of friend or rival. We have two complex countries,” she said. “To keep this relationship on a positive trajectory, we have to be honest about our differences … and avoid unrealistic expectations. It requires steady effort over time.”

Women's Memorial Hosts Soldier, Marine Photo Exhibit

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

May 28, 2008 - Duty, courage, camaraderie and sacrifice are on display at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial here. The public can view a collection of 115 black-and-white and color photographs that depict U.S. soldiers and Marines in action spanning from the Civil War to the present day. The photos were culled from more than 4,000 images that were reviewed by exhibit curator Cyma Rubin.

The free exhibit is titled, "The American Soldier: A Photographic Tribute to Soldiers and Marines." The traveling exhibit will be featured inside the women's memorial building through Labor Day.

Passers-by often comment on the raw emotions expressed in the faces of the photo's subjects.

"They are very moving pictures that you don't normally get to see of the troops" in action, Bobby Bookwalter, from Clinton, Md., said after he and his family viewed the exhibit on Memorial Day.

The photo exhibit "is nicely done and in chronological order," said Mark Swallow, a native of Pittsburgh who now lives and works in Washington as an intern with a local construction design firm.

"Being a 20-year-old male, I see a lot of people that look just like I do," Swallow said as he looked over photos of the Korean War. "It's fascinating that young men, like I, shaped this great nation. You can see the expressions on their faces -- the tough turmoil and times that they went through."

Linsey Longstreth, 24, was taken with a black-and-white photo of "California Joe," who was one of the North's deadliest sharpshooters during the Civil War. She gave the exhibit high marks for organization and authenticity.

The exhibit's often-intimate photos depict "exactly what the soldiers have gone through, whether they are triumphs or really hard times," Longstreth said. It was especially appropriate, she said, to be able view the exhibit on Memorial Day.

Navy Reserve Petty Officer 1st Class Gustavo Santa, a Gulf War and Iraq war veteran, wore his uniform and took his children Megan, 10, and Justin, 8, along to view the photo exhibit during a holiday away from their home in southern Florida.

"I'm a veteran of the Iraq war, and I want to pay my respects to my friends," said Santa, who served as a medical corpsman with the Marines in Hit, Iraq, during 2004 and 2005.

"I also wanted to show my kids what myself and other people have gone through," Santa added.

At the Vietnam-era portion of the exhibit, Air Force veteran Edward Leckey Jr. eyed a black-and-white photo depicting a somber serviceman getting ready to depart on patrol and another image showing a snakelike line of "grunts" making their way across a rain-drenched rice paddy.

The Vietnam images brought back memories, Leckey said, noting that after he enlisted in 1959, he was among the first group of U.S. servicemembers to serve in South Vietnam as advisors.

"The exhibit is excellent," said Leckey, an Alexandria, Va., resident who was accompanied by his Russian-born wife, Natalia Kozlova. "Some of it is what some people would perceive is graphic -- which I don't.

"It just shows the real world," Leckey emphasized, as he pointed to the photo of the lone infantryman. "You can tell that this guy right here with the M-14; he is preparing to go into the field."

Joyce Shambley, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, and her niece, Amber Cooper, an Army veteran who performed two duty tours in Iraq, spent some time at the Iraq war photo exhibit. Cooper's husband, Calvin, is an Army noncommissioned officer getting ready to depart on another deployment to Iraq.

"Because I am a veteran, I like to come and pay my respects to those who have given their lives for all of us," said Shambley, who served as a hospital administrator at the time of her Army retirement in 1998. Seeing the sometimes intense photos in the Iraq exhibit "brings back memories," said Cooper, now in the Army Reserve. "It's also making me a little anxious, because my husband is getting ready to deploy for the third time."

This time, Cooper is staying home to care for her 9-month-old son, Calvin, named after her husband. Cooper said she sometimes wishes that she could accompany her husband to Iraq.

"If I didn't have my baby boy, I would do it again," Cooper said.