Chronologies
US - China
Chronology from Jan 2008 to Mar 2008
: Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Secretary of State Rice talk by phone, discussing bilateral ties and the Six-Party Talks.
: President Bush calls President Hu Jintao to discuss the opportunities created by the Taiwan elections, the situation in Tibet, Burma, and North Korea.
: China allows the first group of foreign journalists to visit Lhasa since the violence began in Tibet.
: China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang voices concern about the mistaken U.S. shipment of fuses to Taiwan. Qin demands that the U.S. conduct an investigation and provide “truthful and detailed information to the Chinese side and eradicate the negative impact and evil consequences hence incurred.”
: U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne announces that in March 2005 the U.S. accidentally shipped four nose cone fuses for intercontinental ballistic missiles to Taiwan instead of the helicopter batteries that Taiwan ordered.
: Taiwan holds a presidential election. KMT candidate Ma Ying-jeou wins with 58.45 percent of the vote against 41.55 percent for DPP candidate Hsieh Chang-ting.
: Vice Premier Wang Qishan meets U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab in Beijing and pledges China’s constructive role as a bridge in the Doha round of negotiations on world trade.
: Secretary Rice telephones Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and urges restraint on the part of the Chinese government in its response to Tibetan protestors, and encouraging Beijing to talk with the Dalai Lama.
: The U.S. Security and Economic Review Commission holds a hearing on China’s Expanding Global Influence: Foreign Policy Goals, Practices, and Tools.”
: China releases its annual report on human rights in the U.S., which calls the U.S. record “tattered and shocking,” and criticizes the U.S. for its high crime rates, large prison population, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
: Department of State releases its annual report on human rights. Unlike previous years, China is not listed as among the top 10 most systematic human rights violators, but is described as an authoritarian regime that denies its people basic human rights and freedoms, tortures prisoners, and restricts the media.
: Tibetan protests begin in conjunction with the anniversary of the 1959 rebellion against Chinese rule.
: President Hu Jintao meets former President George H.W. Bush in Beijing.
: Washington seeks permission from Beijing for the USS Kitty Hawk Battle Group to visit Hong Kong in mid-April.
: Two House subcommittees hold a hearing to explore the economic and security implications of “sovereign wealth funds,” including the activities of the China Investment Corporation, with assets of $200 billion.
: The National People’s Congress (NPC) opens in Beijing. The main agendas are controlling inflation, the Olympic games, and a governmental reorganization.
: China says it plans to increase military spending by 17.6 percent this year, to 417.8 billion RMB, or $59 billion.
: The Bush Administration delivers a report to Congress entitled “the 2008 Trade Policy Agenda,” which states that China has overtaken Japan to become the third largest export market for the U.S.
: The Pentagon releases its annual report on China’s military as mandated by Congress.
: Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia David Sedney holds Defense Policy Consultative Talks in Shanghai with counterpart Gen. Qian Lihua.
: President Bush says that he will attend the Beijing Olympics in August as a sports fan, but vows not to be “shy” about pushing China on human rights as well as Darfur and Myanmar.
: In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency Lt. Gen. Michael Maples says China has deployed more than 1,000 ballistic missiles against Taiwan and has developed more powerful missiles with the range to cover the entire continental U.S. and its allies in the region.
: Representatives of China, U.S., Russia, U.K., France, and Germany meet in Washington to discuss the Iranian nuclear problem. China’s representative says that China supports negotiations as a means to resolve the problem.
: Secretary of State Rice visits Beijing as part of a tour of Northeast Asia.
: The 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China kicks off its second plenary session to discuss the restructuring of government departments and candidates for state leaders.
: Nine retired senior military officials from the U.S. and China, led by former Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Bill Owens and former Deputy Chief of the PLA General Staff Xiong Guangkai respectively, meet on the southern island of Hainan to discuss ways to reduce tensions between the two countries.
: The Chinese Ministry of Public Security says that China will send the fifth contingent of peacekeeping police to Kosovo in early March.
: Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei holds talks with Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill to exchange views on the North Korean and Iranian nuclear issues, Myanmar, and anti-proliferation.
: Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao expresses concern about a U.S. plan to destroy a malfunctioning satellite and calls for the U.S. to fulfill its international obligations in earnest.
: Thomas Fingar, deputy director of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, warns that military confrontation in the Taiwan Strait is one of the most worrying potential threats facing the U.S. at a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
: U.S. film director Steven Spielberg withdraws as artistic adviser for the 2008 Olympics, accusing China of not doing enough to pressure Sudan to end the “continuing human suffering” in the troubled western Darfur region.
: Russia and China propose a new international treaty to ban the deployment or use of weapons in outer space, and the use or threat of force against satellites or other craft.
: The FBI arrests alleged spies for the Chinese government, including a Pentagon official who helped Beijing obtain secret information about U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan and U.S. military programs.
: The Department of Defense provides disaster relief materials to China that includes 6,000 winter coats, 1,657 blankets and 87,552 military food ration packs, valued at $820,000, to help alleviate the suffering of people in southern, central and eastern China from heavy snow.
: Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell presents the annual threat assessment to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, with China occupying a prominent portion of his statement.
: FBI Director Robert Mueller makes a three-day visit to Beijing and is briefed by the police, paramilitary, and counterintelligence agencies in charge of security for the August Olympic games.
: Adm. Keating says at a forum hosted by Asia Society that Beijing is developing weapons systems that exceed what the U.S. sees as necessary for self-defense.
: China approves a request for the U.S. Seventh Fleet command ship USS Blue Ridge to make port visit in Hong Kong, allowing its 700 sailors to remain a few days in Hong Kong.
: Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi meets Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the sidelines of the six-nation foreign ministers’ meeting on the Iranian nuclear issue in Berlin.
: The World Bank appoints a Chinese economist as its chief economist.
: U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte visits China for the fifth round of the Senior Dialogue, which is held in Guiyang with his counterpart Executive Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo.
: Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, visits China.
: Taiwan’s opposition KMT party wins a landslide victory in the parliamentary polls, winning 81 seats in the legislature, while the DPP wins 27 seats.