US - China military cooperation?

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Home>>China Military

China-US military ties advance

By Zhao Xiaozhuo (China Daily)

16:49, May 18, 2012

Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie paid a six-day visit to the United States last week. It was the first visit by a Chinese defense minister in nine years and also the first high-level military exchange since bilateral military ties were disrupted by the US' planned arms sale to Taiwan last year.

Four consensuses have been reached between Liang and his US counterpart Leon Panetta on further developing military ties and strengthening pragmatic communication and cooperation, demonstrating the general direction of the bilateral military ties is now toward stability, mutual trust and cooperation. The joint statement indicates that the US may refrain itself from harming China's core interests, and China will also try to avoid breaking military ties as revenge.

China-US military ties have not only been disrupted by the US' arms sales to Taiwan over the past 20-odd years, but also by the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999, and the collision between a US reconnaissance plane and a Chinese fighter near China's coast that killed the Chinese pilot in 2001.

But the fundamental underlying reason for the ups and downs in Sino-US military relations is the lack of strategic mutual trust, which arises from their historical grudge against each other and long-standing differences in social institutions. Insufficient strategic mutual trust has impeded the progress of the military relationship, which, in turn, prevents both countries from building and furthering their mutual trust. The bilateral military relationship thus keeps going through a repeat cycle of souring, stagnation, resumption and development.

The two defense chiefs have agreed that the two sides should try and break this cycle. However, whether they can succeed largely depends on whether the US eliminates the three major barriers in the way of their military relationship, namely US arms sales to Taiwan, the close-in surveillance activities in airspace and waters around China and the discriminatory restrictions set by the 2000 National Defense Authorization Act and the Delay Amendment on China-US military exchanges.