OPENING STATEMENT BY COMMISSIONER LEWIS


Today the Commission's focus is on national security issues. It is an important hearing as it will assist us to better understand multilevel and significant national security issues inherent in the U.S.-China relationship.

We have assembled two extremely competent panels and we hope to learn what these experts believe are the critical national security issues associated with the very complex U.S.-China relationship. We will hear what these experts believe are Chinese perceptions of the United States and how those perceptions color the broad-based U.S.-China relationship.

We know that China's military, like the military of nearly every major power, paid close attention to the U.S. state-of-the-art weapons systems in the Gulf War and particularly their role in defeating the Iraqi forces with their largely Russian and Chinese equipment. It has been widely reported that China has made important breakthroughs in some areas of the so-called revolution in military affairs e.g. missile program. We hope to further understand the Chinese views of asymmetric warfare and what the Chinese military and defense establishment are doing to implement 21st century programs, policies and procedures.

We thank Dr. Pillsbury and Mr. Thomas for being here for taking the time to share with us their thoughts about Chinese views of future warfare, particularly in the area of information warfare which poses not only a military but an economic threat.

This afternoon we have invited three additional and eminent experts in the field to be with us:

Dr. Larry Wortzel, Director of the Heritage Foundation's Asia Studies Center
Dr. Bates Gill, Director, Brookings Institute's Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies; and
Dr. Richard Fisher, Senior Fellow at the Jamestown Foundation.

We have asked these gentlemen to share their views on Chinese perceptions of the United States, China's relationships with various rogue states and China's very important relationship with Russia.

By the end of the day we should have a better understanding of what measures the U.S. and China should undertake in the future to manage its relationship and to build confidence in each other for a future peaceful relationship.

Welcome Gentlemen.