China Slaps Pentagon

It was, to put it mildly, an awkward moment in diplomacy. On Tuesday, just hours before US Defence Secretary Robert Gates was scheduled to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, the Chinese military conducted the inaugural flight test of a new stealth warplane, the J-20.
Gates had travelled to Beijing hoping to ease tensions with the Chinese military, which had reached a nadir since US President Barack Obama took office. In the face of Chinese reluctance, he had lobbied hard for the visit, a worthy quest to promote peace with a major rival.
He was also motivated by financial concerns. Days before the visit, he had announced sharp cuts in the Pentagon’s budget.
The cash-strapped US desperately needs to slash spending, and the prospect of conflict with China costs the American taxpayers a fortune every year. Warmer relations could mean less money spent on fighter jets and aircraft carriers.
But with this high-profile test flight, were his hosts sending a message?
The J-20, which could go into production later this decade, is an advanced and expensive fighter, deploying radar-evading engineering, a major battlefield field advantage that only the US currently holds. Was Beijing demonstrating that China was catching up much faster than the US realised? Was its military brass suggesting that thwarting an arms race was not on Beijing’s agenda, regardless of Washington’s wishes?
Or was the timing merely an unfortunate coincidence?
US Defence Chief Gates confronted his interlocutor about the J-20 flight. Oddly, at first the Chinese president appeared to be unaware of it.
Eventually he confirmed that it had taken place. But Hu said the timing “had absolutely nothing to do with my visit,” Gates later told the press.