US appeals to China, weighs more Nth Korea options

* Gates: China actions won't change policy of arming Taiwan

* U.S. assessing "options" beyond U.N. to punish N. Korea

By Adam Entous

SINGAPORE, June 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates appealed to China on Saturday to restore military ties and said Washington was considering options beyond the United Nations to punish North Korea for allegedly sinking a South Korean ship.

Addressing a security conference in Singapore attended by Asian leaders, Gates said China's decision to break off military-to-military contacts between the Pacific powers earlier this year could undercut regional stability.

He urged Beijing to accept the "reality" that Washington is committed to arming Taiwan, like it or not.

"It should be clear to everyone now -- more than 30 years after normalization -- that interruptions in our military relationship with China will not change United States policy toward Taiwan," Gates said.

He called it the "collective responsibility" of Asian states to address North Korean "provocations," increasing pressure on a reluctant China to rebuke its long-time, reclusive ally.

But Gates and other U.S. officials suggested the United States was looking beyond measures in the U.N. Security Council and could act unilaterally or in concert with its allies to increase Pyongyang's isolation.

China broke off military-to-military contacts after the Obama administration notified Congress in January of a plan to sell Taiwan up to $6.4 billion worth of arms.

To underscore its displeasure over the continued sales, China took the extraordinary step of turning down a proposed fence-mending visit by Gates during his trip to Asia.

"There is a real cost to any absence of military-to-military relations," Gates told the conference, where he held talks with top ministers from across Asia with the exception of the Chinese, who sent a lower-level representative.

Gates said "sustained and reliable" contacts between the two militaries were needed to reduce the risk of "miscommunication, misunderstanding and miscalculation" that could lead inadvertently to conflict.

CRITICAL ISSUES

He has singled out China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) as the main obstruction in the way of improved relations, saying its position was at odds with that of the country's political leadership, which he has said supports closer military ties. [ID:nSGE6520F7]

"Only in the military-to-military arena has progress on critical mutual security issues been held hostage over something that is, quite frankly, old news," Gates said.

Arms sales to Taiwan have spanned decades and were "an important component of maintaining peace and stability in cross-strait relations and throughout the region" because China's own military buildup is largely focused on the self-ruled island, he said.

Gates said this should not be seen as threatening to China because the United States has long made clear it does not support independence for Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province to be united with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Some U.S. officials saw the friction with China as particularly worrisome given heightened tensions in the region after the United States and South Korea concluded that North Korea was behind the sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan in March, killing 46 sailors.

It was the deadliest military incident between the two Koreas since the 1950-1953 Korean War. Seoul has referred the matter to the U.N. Security Council, but it is unclear what action, if any, the body will take. [ID:nSGE6530EA]

Beijing, which is North Korea's only major ally and which fought alongside the North in the Korean War, has declined publicly to join international condemnation of Pyongyang, saying it is still assessing the evidence.

As a permanent member of the Security Council, China can veto any proposed resolution or statement.

To try to deter the North, Gates said the United States would conduct more joint military exercises with South Korea and support "action" by the Security Council, but added without elaborating: "At the same time, we are assessing additional options to hold North Korea accountable."

Washington has made clear it wants more help from China.

"The nations of this region share the task of addressing these dangerous provocations," Gates said. "Inaction would amount to an abdication of our collective responsibility to protect the peace and reinforce stability in Asia."

Pentagon strategists have voiced alarm at what they see as China's faster-than-expected military build-up, from powerful anti-ship missiles to an advanced combat jet that may rival the premier U.S. fighter, Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMT.N) F-22 Raptor, within eight years.

Admiral Robert Willard, head of the U.S. military's Pacific Command, said there were concerns across the region about the "intent" of China's "profound" military buildup and increased maritime "assertiveness."

"This is a very consequential navy as a result of the buildup and when a consequential navy is coming in contact with other navies in the region, it's imperative that they understand one another and that they communicate and that, more than anything, they adhere to international laws and rules of the road," he told reporters traveling with Gates.

(Editing by Paul Tait)