WASHINGTON — Tensions between
the U.S. and China have deepened during the rule of China's president,
Xi Jinping, and the risk of an inadvertent military clash in the
Asia-Pacific is growing, a congressional advisory panel said Thursday.
The
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission criticizes "unsafe,
unprofessional and aggressive" behavior by Chinese military personnel in
the past year as the rising power has intimidated its neighbors and
challenged decades of American pre-eminence in the Asia-Pacific.
The
commission's annual report was drafted before President Barack Obama
visited Beijing last week and agreed with Xi to improve military
cooperation to help reduce the risk of a confrontation. Obama's trip
also yielded a breakthrough deal with Xi on combating climate change,
seen as sign that despite their strategic rivalry and differences over
human rights, the two governments can cooperate.
But since Xi came
to power two years ago, the panel notes U.S.-China relations have been
increasingly strained by China's territorial ambitions in the East and
South China Sea, where it has disputes with nations including U.S.
allies Japan and the Philippines.
"It is becoming clear that
President Xi's government is willing to cause a much higher level of
tension in the bilateral relationship than past administrations have.
Unfortunately, China's pursuit of a more confrontational relationship
with the United States likely will persist," the commission says.
Commission Chairman Dennis Shea said that conclusion still held, despite Obama's upbeat visit to Beijing.
Shea
said the trip improved the atmospherics between the U.S. and China, but
fundamental problems remain. He cited continuing Chinese
state-sponsored cyberespionage; an increasingly hostile environment for
U.S. business in China; and Chinese military modernization aimed at
least in part at countering the U.S. military in the Pacific.
The
commission advises Congress on the national security implications of the
relationship between the two world powers. It doesn't set policy, and
Beijing is typically very critical of its findings.
The report
says the potential for "security miscalculation" in the region is
rising, and that as China increases its military spending by
double-digit percentages year after year, the balance of power is
drifting away from the U.S. and its allies.
It notes that by 2020,
China could have as many as 351 submarines and missile-equipped surface
ships in the Asia-Pacific. The U.S. Navy, by comparison, plans to have
67 submarines and surface ships stationed or deployed to the region, the
report says.
The commission cites several publicized incidents in
which it says Chinese military aircraft and vessels have engaged in
risky behavior with Japanese and U.S. forces, which it says could have
resulted in the loss of life or a major political crisis. It cited an
incident in August when an armed Chinese J-11 fighter jet passed within
20 feet to 45 feet of a U.S. Navy P-8 surveillance plane.
