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When he set foot in China for the first time as U.S. defense secretary on September 17, Leon Panetta might have been uncertain about how Chinese officials would treat him.
Indeed, his visit came at a sensitive moment when regional tensions are jeopardizing trust between the world’s two biggest economies. While a bolstered U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific remains a prime concern, many in China question Washington’s role in the territorial spat between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands. Just a day before Panetta arrived in Beijing, the United States secured an agreement to put a second missile defense radar system in Japan.
But the four-day visit turned out to be eye-opening. He not only conducted a frank exchange of views with Chinese leaders but also found himself an eyewitness to the increasing transparency of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). These positive trends will help the two countries establish a “new type of military-to-military relationship,”Chinese analysts said.
Open to exchanges
Panetta had a lot of explaining to do during his visit to China, the second stop on his AsiaPacific trip, which also took him to Japan and New Zealand, said Luo Yuan, Executive Vice President of the China Strategic Culture Promotion Association. For instance, the U.S. argument that the missile defense radar system in Japan was aimed at protecting Japan from North Korean attacks doesn’t convince the Chinese side, because North Korea lacks long-distance projectile capabilities. “It apparently targets China,” Luo said.
Since U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama, have reiterated that the United States does not seek to contain China, Panetta should clarify strategic intentions of this move, he said.
Beijing has legitimate concerns about Washington’s pivot to the Asia-Pacific region and, most recently, its skewed stance in favor of Japan on the Diaoyu Islands dispute, Luo said. Although the United States claims not to take sides in the issue, in the view of Chinese observers, its actions are not consistent with its words.
At a press conference after talks with Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie, Panetta said the United States intends to establish a “healthy, stable, reliable and continuous” military relationship with China.
“The key is to have senior-level interactions that we are engaging in to reduce the potential of a miscalculation and boost understanding and expand trust between our countries,” he said.
During meetings with Panetta, Chinese political and military leaders made it clear that China will make no concessions on issues concerning its core interests including territorial integrity.
“Although the two sides may not dispel deep-seated mistrust with this single visit, the visit at least provided an opportunity for them to communicate with each other,” Luo said.
Apart from holding talks with Chinese officials, Panetta visited the PLA Academy of Armored Force Engineering in Beijing. He also traveled to the port city of Qingdao in east China’s Shandong Province, where he toured the PLA Navy North Sea Fleet, a first for a U.S. defense chief.
“Unlike in the past, China is now confident enough to show visiting U.S. officials around its military bases,” said Jin Canrong, Associate Dean of the School of International Relations at Renmin University of China.
Among the world’s major military forces, the PLA is the least familiar to the United States, he said. Given the risks of potential conflict between China and the United States and the rapid modernization of the PLA, the United States is anxious to carry out regular military exchanges with China to learn more about the PLA, he added.
China, for its part, has opened the gate of its heavily guarded military bases to U.S. guests. During his trip to China in January 2011, then U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited several military facilities including the command base of the PLA Second Artillery Force, China’s strategic missile force.
Shortly before Panetta’s visit to China, Chinese and U.S. navies held a joint counterpiracy exercise in the Gulf of Aden. Panetta added that the U.S. Navy will invite China to send a ship to participate in the RIMPAC 2014 exercise, the world’s largest interna-tional maritime exercise.
But barriers in further developing a military-to-military relationship between China and the United States remain, Luo said. These include U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, U.S. surveillance activities near China’s borders and U.S. legislation that restricts Sino-U.S. military exchanges.
These contentious issues have made the bilateral military relationship prone to fluctuations. One of the most recent setbacks occurred in September 2011, when the U.S. administration announced sales of an arms package worth more than $5.8 billion to Taiwan.
New thinking
China and the United States should explore a path of coexistence and establish a new type of relationship that corresponds to their influence, said Liang at the joint press conference with Panetta.
“The two sides should, within the frame- work of building a Sino-U.S. cooperative partnership, promote a new type of military relations featuring equality, reciprocity and win-win cooperation in an active and pragmatic way,” he said.
Liang’s call echoed Chinese President Hu Jintao’s proposal on building a new type of relationship between China and the United States as major powers at the fourth round of the Sino-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing in May.
The relationship between China and the United States is vastly different from four decades ago, when they first pondered the possibility of establishing diplomatic relations, and even different from a decade ago, said Yuan Peng, Director of the Institute of American Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. Beijing’s quick ascendance on the world stage, and the fact that its GDP has become the second largest worldwide and is catching up to that of the United States, has caused uneasiness and discomfort in Washington, he wrote in a recent paper published in the Contemporary International Relations journal.
There is now an entrenched perception of China as “a regional military rival, a global economic competitor and a comprehensive political adversary” among U.S. political elites, Yuan said
In its new strategic guidance issued earlier this year, the Pentagon cautioned, “Over the long term, China’s emergence as a regional power will have the potential to affect the U.S. economy and our security in a variety of ways.”
Moreover, the relationship between China and the United States is different from relationships between other major powers, Yuan added. It is unlike the balance of power between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War because China is no match to the United States in terms of military might and does not seek to overthrow the current international system. It is also different from the United States’ military alliances with Europe and Japan, which is based on shared ideologies.
Considering the unique nature of the Sino-U.S. relations today, it is imperative that China and the United States try to forge a new type of relationship, Yuan said.
Liang’s calls for a new military-tomilitary relationship between China and the United States showed China is committed to preventing conventional power politics from taking its toll on Sino-U.S. relations, Jin said. In the history of international relations, the emergence of a new major power has often led to war as it challenged the dominant power at the time, he said.
In an effort to avoid this pattern, China has taken the initiative of increasing military transparency while shouldering more international responsibilities and deepening its involvement in international institutions, Jin said.
At the same time, China expects the United States to acknowledge its newfound status, address China’s concerns and give up attempts to encircle China strategically, he added.
Indeed, his visit came at a sensitive moment when regional tensions are jeopardizing trust between the world’s two biggest economies. While a bolstered U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific remains a prime concern, many in China question Washington’s role in the territorial spat between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands. Just a day before Panetta arrived in Beijing, the United States secured an agreement to put a second missile defense radar system in Japan.
But the four-day visit turned out to be eye-opening. He not only conducted a frank exchange of views with Chinese leaders but also found himself an eyewitness to the increasing transparency of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). These positive trends will help the two countries establish a “new type of military-to-military relationship,”Chinese analysts said.
Open to exchanges
Panetta had a lot of explaining to do during his visit to China, the second stop on his AsiaPacific trip, which also took him to Japan and New Zealand, said Luo Yuan, Executive Vice President of the China Strategic Culture Promotion Association. For instance, the U.S. argument that the missile defense radar system in Japan was aimed at protecting Japan from North Korean attacks doesn’t convince the Chinese side, because North Korea lacks long-distance projectile capabilities. “It apparently targets China,” Luo said.
Since U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama, have reiterated that the United States does not seek to contain China, Panetta should clarify strategic intentions of this move, he said.
Beijing has legitimate concerns about Washington’s pivot to the Asia-Pacific region and, most recently, its skewed stance in favor of Japan on the Diaoyu Islands dispute, Luo said. Although the United States claims not to take sides in the issue, in the view of Chinese observers, its actions are not consistent with its words.
At a press conference after talks with Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie, Panetta said the United States intends to establish a “healthy, stable, reliable and continuous” military relationship with China.
“The key is to have senior-level interactions that we are engaging in to reduce the potential of a miscalculation and boost understanding and expand trust between our countries,” he said.
During meetings with Panetta, Chinese political and military leaders made it clear that China will make no concessions on issues concerning its core interests including territorial integrity.
“Although the two sides may not dispel deep-seated mistrust with this single visit, the visit at least provided an opportunity for them to communicate with each other,” Luo said.
Apart from holding talks with Chinese officials, Panetta visited the PLA Academy of Armored Force Engineering in Beijing. He also traveled to the port city of Qingdao in east China’s Shandong Province, where he toured the PLA Navy North Sea Fleet, a first for a U.S. defense chief.
“Unlike in the past, China is now confident enough to show visiting U.S. officials around its military bases,” said Jin Canrong, Associate Dean of the School of International Relations at Renmin University of China.
Among the world’s major military forces, the PLA is the least familiar to the United States, he said. Given the risks of potential conflict between China and the United States and the rapid modernization of the PLA, the United States is anxious to carry out regular military exchanges with China to learn more about the PLA, he added.
China, for its part, has opened the gate of its heavily guarded military bases to U.S. guests. During his trip to China in January 2011, then U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited several military facilities including the command base of the PLA Second Artillery Force, China’s strategic missile force.
Shortly before Panetta’s visit to China, Chinese and U.S. navies held a joint counterpiracy exercise in the Gulf of Aden. Panetta added that the U.S. Navy will invite China to send a ship to participate in the RIMPAC 2014 exercise, the world’s largest interna-tional maritime exercise.
But barriers in further developing a military-to-military relationship between China and the United States remain, Luo said. These include U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, U.S. surveillance activities near China’s borders and U.S. legislation that restricts Sino-U.S. military exchanges.
These contentious issues have made the bilateral military relationship prone to fluctuations. One of the most recent setbacks occurred in September 2011, when the U.S. administration announced sales of an arms package worth more than $5.8 billion to Taiwan.
New thinking
China and the United States should explore a path of coexistence and establish a new type of relationship that corresponds to their influence, said Liang at the joint press conference with Panetta.
“The two sides should, within the frame- work of building a Sino-U.S. cooperative partnership, promote a new type of military relations featuring equality, reciprocity and win-win cooperation in an active and pragmatic way,” he said.
Liang’s call echoed Chinese President Hu Jintao’s proposal on building a new type of relationship between China and the United States as major powers at the fourth round of the Sino-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing in May.
The relationship between China and the United States is vastly different from four decades ago, when they first pondered the possibility of establishing diplomatic relations, and even different from a decade ago, said Yuan Peng, Director of the Institute of American Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. Beijing’s quick ascendance on the world stage, and the fact that its GDP has become the second largest worldwide and is catching up to that of the United States, has caused uneasiness and discomfort in Washington, he wrote in a recent paper published in the Contemporary International Relations journal.
There is now an entrenched perception of China as “a regional military rival, a global economic competitor and a comprehensive political adversary” among U.S. political elites, Yuan said
In its new strategic guidance issued earlier this year, the Pentagon cautioned, “Over the long term, China’s emergence as a regional power will have the potential to affect the U.S. economy and our security in a variety of ways.”
Moreover, the relationship between China and the United States is different from relationships between other major powers, Yuan added. It is unlike the balance of power between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War because China is no match to the United States in terms of military might and does not seek to overthrow the current international system. It is also different from the United States’ military alliances with Europe and Japan, which is based on shared ideologies.
Considering the unique nature of the Sino-U.S. relations today, it is imperative that China and the United States try to forge a new type of relationship, Yuan said.
Liang’s calls for a new military-tomilitary relationship between China and the United States showed China is committed to preventing conventional power politics from taking its toll on Sino-U.S. relations, Jin said. In the history of international relations, the emergence of a new major power has often led to war as it challenged the dominant power at the time, he said.
In an effort to avoid this pattern, China has taken the initiative of increasing military transparency while shouldering more international responsibilities and deepening its involvement in international institutions, Jin said.
At the same time, China expects the United States to acknowledge its newfound status, address China’s concerns and give up attempts to encircle China strategically, he added.