1205 DoD：中國挑釁、不負責任，但繼續溝通

【Comment】

Hagel 避開1205事件是有意或意外而說，解放軍艦艇在 100碼前的切入行為是「不負責任的」 (irresponsible)。此行為是非常挑釁 (very incendiary) ，一點火花會導致最終的誤判 (miscalculation)。

美國不希望產生誤判。美國會努力溝通。

Dempsey 說，美軍與中國正在就海、空、網路等議題建立共通行為準則的協議。中國航母要威脅美國還有一段長遠的路要走 (they are a long way from being a threat to us with their aircraft carrier)。

Hagel 與 Dempsey 的定調○DoS（2013.12.19）http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=5345

Q:  Secretary Hagel and General Dempsey, I'd like to get your assessment of the Chinese navy, especially in the wake of this near-miss collision with the USS Cowpens?  Was that intentional or accidental, according to your assessment?  And how would you assess the navy?  Is this aircraft carrier, the new aircraft carrier a serious threat?  Does it even have aircraft onboard?  What's your assessment?

SEC. HAGEL:  Well, I'll let the chairman talk about the specifics of the -- you mean the Chinese aircraft carrier...

Q:  Yes.

SEC. HAGEL: ... the one that they bought from the Ukrainians and retrofitted.

On the -- the bigger question about the Cowpens and what happened and why and motives and intentions, I think it goes back to something that Chairman Dempsey and I have talked about -- and others -- that what we want to avoid in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, all the conflict surrounding these -- these islands is restraint, responsible actions.

And that action by the Chinese, cutting in front of their ship, 100 yards out in front of the Cowpens, was not a responsible action.  It was -- it was unhelpful.  It was irresponsible.  We need to work toward putting in place some kind of a mechanism in the Asia Pacific and with China -- and I know General Dempsey and the chiefs have been working on this, I've been working on this, to have a mechanism to be able to defuse some of these issues as they occur.

Because as I've said -- and I know Marty and others -- what we don't want is some miscalculation here to occur.  And when you have a Cowpens issue, that's the kind of thing that's very incendiary, that could be a trigger or a spark that could set off some eventual miscalculation.  And so this has been a very unhelpful event.  We're working on it, and we'll continue to -- to work on it.

GEN. DEMPSEY:  When I visited China in May of last year and I met my Chinese counterpart, General (inaudible), we took onboard three initiatives.  One of them was to come to a common agreement about rules of behavior when we encounter each other in three particular domains -- air, sea, and cyber, and those working groups have actually been meeting and making some progress.  This reinforces, in my mind -- and I -- and I trust in his -- that we need to keep continue to -- to have that work ongoing, because, as the secretary said, we -- we certainly don't want miscalculation or accident.

As far as the Chinese aircraft carrier, aircraft -- carrier ops are about as complicated an operation as any we conduct.  There's actually a great short story by Tom Wolfe you ought to read about -- about carrier operations.  It captures it in layman's terms.  The point is, they are a long way from being a threat to us with their aircraft carrier.