Gates in Beijing for Talks on Military Buildup.

"If you are sitting in the Pentagon, China is a potential peer competitor,” said Michael J. Green, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington policy institute.

"You want to shape Chinese decisions, to dissuade China from choosing military or other destabilizing solutions to their problems and to encourage them to be a responsible stakeholder," said Mr. Green, senior director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council in 2004 and 2005. “For that, you need a credible military deterrent — alliances, presence. But you also have to use reassuring language."

Read the article