Will China and US resume normal military exchange?

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2010-9-29 10:21
Qian Lihua (R), director of the Foreign Affairs Office with the National Defense Ministry held talks with Michael Schiffer, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia on September 28.



According to Xinhua Sep 28, an official with the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday the Chinese and U.S. militaries would conduct dialogue and exchange at an unspecified time in the future, including an annual meeting on maritime military safety and consultations on defense.

　　
Qian Lihua, director of the Foreign Affairs Office with the National Defense Ministry, made the remarks during talks with Michael Schiffer, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia.

　　
Qian expressed hope the two militaries will, in a spirit of respect, mutual trust, equality and mutual benefit, effectively communicate during the exchanges, to jointly promote the healthy and stable development of military relations.
　　

Qin said China-U.S. military ties are an important part of the China-U.S. bilateral relationship, adding that they have the opportunity to develop but also face problems.
　　

The problems need to be solved urgently, he said.
　　

Safeguarding the stability of China-U.S. military relations should be a weighty responsibility to be shouldered by both
sides, he said.
　　

Qian also briefed the U.S. delegation on China's stance on issues concerning the South China Sea and joint military drills between the United States and the Republic of Korea.
　　

Schiffer agreed U.S.-China military ties should be further promoted as a part of the positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship between the two nations.
　　

The U.S. military hopes to work with the Chinese side to establish a stable and reliable framework for bilateral relations, Schiffer said, adding that uninterrupted dialogue and exchange helps avoid misunderstandings.
　　

Both Qian and Schiffer said that their talks were positive and significant, according to a statement released by the Chinese Ministry of National Defense.
　　


The Wall Street Journal releases an article September 27 on the analysis of the talks between China and US held on Monday and Tuesday. Here is an excerpt from this article.


The Pentagon is opening talks with China aimed at restarting stalled military relations, seeking to build a more sustainable relationship with the Chinese army to try to reduce tensions in the region and to address larger strategic concerns.


R. Michael Schiffer, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, hopes to start laying the groundwork for renewed high-level military exchanges during talks in Beijing Monday and Tuesday. The U.S. would like to improve coordination between the two countries' air and sea forces and to start establishing a more-permanent platform to discuss issues such as nuclear arms and ballistic-missile defenses in a bid to reduce the risk of misunderstanding.


One of the first exchanges under discussion could be a visit to the U.S. by Gen. Ma Xiaotian, China's deputy chief of general staff, this fall. "These are simply very early discussions of possibilities," a senior U.S. military official said.


A Chinese official in Washington confirmed the effort to restart bilateral military exchanges but declined to discuss next steps.


China broke off military-to-military contacts with the U.S. in January to protest Washington's decision to sell up to $6.4 billion in arms to Taiwan.


Even if the two sides were to reach agreement on a sequence of confidence-building military exchanges in the coming months, U.S. officials played down the chances of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visiting China this year. China had invited Mr. Gates to visit Beijing this year but effectively suspended the offer after the Taiwan arms deal was announced.


The U.S. wants to see progress toward what a senior U.S. defense official called a "framework" for a more sustainable relationship with China's People's Liberation Army, or PLA, to help ensure relations won't be frozen every time Beijing gets upset at Washington, whether over the next Taiwan arms sale or over tensions in the South China Sea.


The U.S. has voiced growing concern about disputes between China and several other Asian countries over sovereignty in the South China Sea. It has also sought to ease tensions between Japan and China following a row over a ship collision near islands claimed by both nations.


"We obviously don't have a structure and framework in place right now that is functional," the defense official said. The goal is to have a relationship "not just in good times but during times of friction and turbulence."


Mr. Gates has singled out the PLA as the main obstruction in the way of improved bilateral relations. He has said its position was at odds with that of the country's political leadership, which Washington sees as supportive of closer military ties.


To avoid day-to-day operational mishaps, the U.S. wants both sides to fully implement an existing bilateral maritime agreement meant to govern how U.S. and Chinese military ships and aircraft communicate with each in international waters and airspace.


"I would offer that it hasn't been used to its fullest extent or as intended because of the on-again-off-again nature of the [military-to-military] relationship," the senior defense official said. "We've got empirical evidence that there's a real need for it given some of the incidents that we've had."


The senior defense official said the U.S. was prepared to engage the Chinese about their respective missile-defense efforts.Like Russia, China has expressed concerns that U.S. missile defenses undermine its own strategic capabilities and interests. As part of an exchange on the issue, the U.S. hopes China will "provide us with some insight into their thinking about missile-defense issues and their activities in that arena," the official said.


Will China and US resume normal military exchange?