China permits a port visit for US warship

Move seen as sign that Beijing seeks to avoid tensions

A serviceman stood guard yesterday as the USS Blue Ridge made its way through the harbor to Hong Kong. The amphibious command ship and its crew of 700 are expected to stay a few days. (vincent yu/associated press)

BEIJING - China allowed a US warship to make a port call in Hong Kong yesterday, two months after authorities turned away an American aircraft carrier battle group and set off a diplomatic dispute between the two countries.

The Blue Ridge, an amphibious command ship and the flagship of the Seventh Fleet, and its 700 crew members were expected to stay in Hong Kong for a few days, according to a spokesman for the American Consulate there.

The sheltered harbor of Hong Kong, the former British colony, is a regular recreation stop for the American Navy, and military analysts said the decision to allow visits to resume was an acknowledgment that Beijing wanted to avoid tension in a sometimes troubled military relationship.

"In terms of basic naval confidence-building, port visits are a positive factor in forming good relations between navies," said Sam Bateman, a maritime specialist at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. "There is really no good reason for China to flex its muscles and deny port visits to the Americans."

The Bush administration lodged a formal protest after China unexpectedly denied a Thanksgiving port visit to Hong Kong by the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk and its supporting ships. With the families of hundreds of crew members waiting in Hong Kong, the fleet returned to its home port in Japan.

Earlier in the same week, China refused permission for two American minesweepers to seek refuge in Hong Kong from storms in the South China Sea, a move that also drew a strong objection from Washington.

Beijing has not publicly explained its reasons, but a report in the state-controlled news media last year said the denials were in retaliation for a decision by the Bush administration to upgrade Taiwan's Patriot antimissile batteries. China considers Taiwan a renegade province. China was also known to have been irritated over President Bush's meeting with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader whom Beijing regards as a separatist.

After talks in Beijing this month with senior Chinese military officers, the commander of American forces in the Pacific, Admiral Timothy J. Keating, predicted that the Blue Ridge visit would go ahead.