Then, as now, the argument is about American military activity in China's vicinity.
The choice was a surprise - and it may have been aimed at easing anxieties within Taiwan's military and in China about Chen's pro-independence proclivities.
He is an unknown, callow youth between 28 and 31 years old, promoted to the rank of major-general by his father after some military training in China.
With the approach this autumn of sweeping leadership changes in China's civilian and military leadership, it is not surprising that General Liang has turned even more shy than usual (it took the IISS ten years to secure attendance by a Chinese defence minister, even though the office ranks relatively low in China's military hierarchy compared with other countries).
"A genuine strategic air power must possess a strong power projection capability, which is highly reliant on large aircraft, namely a strategic air freighter and a strategic bomber, " said Wang Yanan, deputy editor in chief at Aerospace Knowledge magazine and a military analyst, in a China Daily report.
To placate Washington, Israel effectively ended its military sales to China in recent years.
And if Russia were to acquiesce in military action, China probably would too.
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The "military source" in the China Daily stressed that Beijing preferred peaceful solutions, but said it was open to other options if necessary.
"The realignment approach being taken is consistent with the security interests of both Japan and the United States, " Obama said, noting it fit his strategy announced in Australia last year of broadening the U.S. military presence in the region to offset China's growing dominance.
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The military deal marks the first time in a decade that China had bought large military technological equipment from Russia, according to official television.
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But tensions on the military front are having an increasing impact on policy making in Washington and Beijing as China's growing military power starts to challenge the supremacy that the U.S. has enjoyed in the Asia-Pacific region since the end of World War II.
Now, however, America remains far ahead of China in military and civilian space capabilities.
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Perhaps the growth in the military budget reflects China's growing wealth and prestige, along with a desire to protect its rising shipments of oil and other commodities: the country seems bent on building a blue-water navy.
The U.S. seeks to diversify its presence in the Western Pacific at a time when China is flexing its military might in the region, even as cuts are made to the overall U.S. military budget.
But the increase in rural spending in this year's budget was still lower than the increase in China's military spending.
Huawei, whose founders have backgrounds in China's military, also was charged with wiring Iraqi defense installations with fiber-optic cable a few years ago.
What overall military postures in Asia will both permit China to meet its vital security needs and enable America to defend its allies and interests?
Despite the occasional outburst of bellicose language from Beijing, and ritual military manoeuvres in the Taiwan Strait, China is concentrating on wooing the island's business people.
India is one of those looking at the Type 26, having previously looked to Russia, and naval experts also point to growing military shipbuilding capacity in South Korea and China.
Global Times and China Daily both run articles today accusing the US military establishment of "rogue tricks" in hyping up a China cyber-threat to boost support for its own cyber force.
Gunpowder had already been invented in China but had not resulted in the sort of sophisticated military weaponry that the Europeans would develop from it.
The Joint Command of the US Armed Forces hosted the very first US-China joint military concert, on my birthday, in my hometown, to celebrate thirty years of US-China engagement.
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In military technology in particular, Russia has proven an invaluable and indispensable source for China against which the West, led by the U.S., still blocks military technology transfers.
Advocates of close relations with China maintain that its military strength has been overrated by Americans in search of an enemy: they point to China's lack of long-range naval power and the poor training of its air-force pilots.
The rivals also found plenty to agree on - declaring unequivocal support for Israel, voicing opposition to US military intervention in Syria, and insisting that China play by trade rules.
The increasing complexities of dealing with the emerging power of China are reflected in the Pentagon's 2005 assessment of China's military capabilities.
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