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Hunter asks Bush for China policy meeting |
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By Roxana Tiron
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Posted: 11/29/07 05:09 PM [ET] |
Presidential hopeful Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is pressing President Bush to call a meeting with several congressional committees to discuss policy towards China in the aftermath of Beijing’s refusal to allow a Navy aircraft carrier and its accompanying ships to dock in Hong Kong last week.
Hunter, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, asked Bush to convene a meeting “as soon as possible” with the chairmen and ranking members of Armed Services and the House panels on Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Defense Appropriations.
In a letter to Bush on Thursday, Hunter also asked the administration to invest as part of the upcoming fiscal 2009 budget “in technologies to ensure our military remains prepared to meet the challenges that we will face with a China that has become more aggressive militarily.”
Hunter, who is not seeking reelection to Congress next year, called for an increased investment in submarine production, the development of modem deep strike platforms, including new bomber aircraft, and enhanced electronic warfare systems.
The Pentagon issued a formal protest to China's military on Wednesday over its refusal to allow the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier strike group to dock in Hong Kong over the Thanksgiving holiday. Military families flew to Hong Kong on their own expense to meet their family members, but never had a chance to do so. The Pentagon’s protest was not a diplomatic communication, but was issued as part of U.S.-China military exchanges, according to Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.
China’s visiting foreign minister told Bush that the incident was the result of a misunderstanding.
Two days before the Chinese denied access to the Kitty Hawk, Hunter said, China also refused to allow two U.S. Navy minesweepers seeking refuge from a storm to make port in Hong Kong, “leaving them no option but to face the dangerous weather in the open sea.”
“As these two incidents clearly demonstrate, China is embarking on a new more confrontational relationship with the U.S. and we need to be prepared,” Hunter wrote on Thursday.
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