South China Morning Post
Saturday July 18 1998
Proposal for Pentagon elite to train PLA
SIMON BECK in New York and Agencies
The Pentagon's elite Special Forces soldiers will train PLA troops under a plan being considered by Washington.
The possibility was confirmed by Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon after US Special Operations chief General Peter Schoomaker said he hoped to see such links.
Although both forces are tentatively developing ties - observing one another's drills - any move towards training with the PLA could prove controversial in Washington.
General Schoomaker's command includes the Green Berets and Navy SEALS. Their forces conduct training missions - sometimes covertly - in more than 100 countries.
He said the training proposal was "desirable".
"You need to engage so you develop rapport and understanding and have another method of dialogue.
"What we would encourage is low-level contact at the small-unit level that allows us to . . . develop trust and confidence that then brings in higher level people to the point where you establish the kind of relationship [where] you can have different kinds of dialogue."
General Schoomaker did not specify under what conditions such collaboration might take place with China, but he said the head of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Joseph Prueher, had been discussing the subject.
Mr Bacon did not rule out such co-operation with the PLA.
"In a broad sense we're looking at future military exchanges with China. I'm not aware of any specific look at Special Forces operations, but that certainly would be a type of military exchange we would consider," he said.
Mr Bacon said co-operation was already under way in terms of joint observations, with a team of Chinese officers watching the US-led Pacific Rim exercises off Hawaii.
He said the US goal was "getting our militaries to work together more smoothly", notably on non-combat missions such as search-and-rescue and provision of humanitarian aid.
At the same time, Mr Bacon endorsed a Congress-mandated panel's conclusion that China was a major exporter of ballistic missile technology to Iran, branded by Washington as the world's biggest state sponsor of "terrorism", and other states. "It's true, and it's unfortunate," he said.
The panel, chaired by former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, reported that China posed a threat to US national security "as a significant proliferator of ballistic missiles, weapons of mass destruction and enabling technologies".
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