OPINION> Commentary
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OPINION> Commentary
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Resumption of military exchanges a good step
By Yang Yi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-27 07:40
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense David Sedney will head an American delegation for a two-day defense meeting with the People's Liberation Army in Beijing today. Both sides are due to exchange views on bilateral military ties and issues of common concern. The resumption of the high-level military talks between the two countries is expected to play a constructive role in pushing forward bilateral ties. Military exchanges between Beijing and Washington have been suspended since last October because of a planned $65 billion US arms sale to Taiwan. Facing the global financial crisis and other severe global challenges requires a commitment to maintaining and developing a stable, healthy and constructive relationship. It will not only be in the interests of both peoples, but will also help to bring peace, stability and prosperity to the Asia-Pacific region and the world as a whole. Military ties have long acted as a responsive weathervane in Sino-US relations. A long-term stable and cooperative military relationship is usually set up between allies or countries with shared strategic interests in politics, economy, security and ideology. With different political systems and values, military relationships between China and the US are the most precarious since normalization of diplomatic relations in 1979. The US had held to a hostile approach toward China for a long period since the establishment of the socialist nation, ruling out the possibility for any widened military exchange. The two countries even ran into a direct military confrontation in the Korean Peninsula in the early 1950s. A kind of quasi-military alliance was forged between them during the Cold War to deal with the common military threat from the Soviet Union. However, with the disappearance of the Soviet military threat in the wake of the end of the Cold War, the US adjusted its strategies, and together with other factors, has brought Sino-US military ties into a long standstill. Pentagon's dispatching of two formations of aircraft carriers to the Taiwan Straits in 1996 brought the two countries to the verge of military conflict. The collision between a US EP-3 spy plane and a Chinese fighter over the South China Sea in 2001 thrust bilateral military ties to an icy edge. Under direct efforts from leaders of both countries, stalled military ties have gradually been restored in recent years, although they still remain fragile. The Taiwan question remains the most sensitive and complicated factor in Sino-US relations. It has proved the most destructive to a normal military exchange. The White House's development of military ties with Taiwan in violation of the three Sino-US Joint Communiques, in particular its constant arms sales to the island that contradicts the spirit of the Aug 17 Communique, has seriously compromised the political foundation of bilateral relations. China will not tolerate any infringement into its core national interests and will make no concession on this principal issue. Good interaction in cross-Straits relations by the Chinese mainland and Taiwan has deprived the US of any excuses for continued arms sales to the island. China's reasonable military development and military transparency has long been an outstanding issue in Sino-US bilateral relations. In recent years, US-led Western countries have continuously trumpeted the "China's military threat" theory and accused its normal military buildup of posing a serious threat to regional and world peace and stability. At the same time, they have attributed sluggish mutual trust building to Chinese military's lack of transparency. Despite being among the world's largest military forces, China's military has long been plagued by input insufficiency and its deterrence and fighting capability is still far from its demand to tackle traditional and non-traditional security threats. Due to historical, cultural and social factors, China's military transparency should be a gradual process. Also, what's more important than transparency in military budgeting, military size and weapons is transparency in strategic intention. China has made a solemn commitment to the international community that it will by no means pursue military expansion and will consistently adhere to a path of peaceful development. The country would not seek hegemony even if it becomes more powerful. All these commitments have made China's peaceful military strategy crystal clear. Facing the increasing number of traditional and non-traditional security threats, all countries should strengthen cooperation, especially in the military field. As two big responsible powers, China and the US should conduct military exchanges on an equal and mutually beneficial footing. They should eliminate the past zero-sum stereotype and push for a win-win result for a healthier and more stable bilateral relationship. The author is Rear Admiral with the Institute for Strategic Studies, National Defense University
(China Daily 02/27/2009 page6) |
