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Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen’s recent visit to China constituted an important part of the improving Sino-U.S. military relationship, but their core differences, including the South China Sea issue, cannot be easily ironed out, said Chinese analysts.
“Since Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States in January this year, military relations between the two countries have been on a path of improvement,” said Tao Wenzhao, a research fellow on U.S. studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
Mullen completed his four-day visit on July 13. It was a reciprocal visit following the trip of Chen Bingde, Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), to the United States in May.
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Mullen’s visit showed Sino-U.S. military exchanges had returned to normal and made headway, said Yuan Peng, Director of the Institute of American Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.
The Chinese Government suspended military talks with the United States after Washington announced an arms sales package to Taiwan in January 2010. Talks were not resumed until Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie met then U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in Hanoi nine months later. Ensuing exchanges, including Gates’visit to China in January this year and the holding of the Sino-U.S. Strategic Security Dialogue in Washington, D.C. in May, further advanced bilateral military ties.
Moreover, the launch of Sino-U.S. Asia-Pacific consultations in June enabled both sides to engage in deeper and broader exchanges on regional issues, Yuan said.
The agenda China arranged for Mullen during his visit featured high-level meetings, military base visits demonstrating the PLA’s openness, and multiple forms of exchanges, said Luo Yuan, a research fellow with the PLA Academy of Military Science.
Mullen met a number of senior Chinese officials, including Chen, Liang and Vice President Xi Jinping. His visit to the Second Artillery Force Headquarters in Beijing on July 10, in particular, showed the PLA’s increasing transparency to the United States.
As a sensitive unit that controls China’s strategic missiles and nuclear arsenal, the Second Artillery Force has long limited its access to U.S. officials, said Wu Xinbo, a professor with the Center for American Studies at Shanghai’s Fudan University.
In recent years, however, several U.S. military officials have been invited to visit its headquarters, including former U.S. defense secretaries Donald Rumsfeld in 2005 and Gates in January this year.
During his stay in China, Mullen also observed an anti-terror drill conducted by a mechanized infantry unit stationed near Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province. He visited an air force base in Shandong Province and a submarine base in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, as well.
At the same time, Mullen reached out to young Chinese by delivering a speech, titled “Cooperative Security and Regional Stability in Asia,” at the Renmin University of China in Beijing and answering students’questions.
Commenting on his China trip, Mullen said exchanges between Chinese and U.S. military officials have helped “clear up the lack of transparency.”
“We are just beginning,” he said. “The relationship is just recently renewed. So we have a long way to go, and the leaders are very committed to that. I’m actually very confident in the future of the military-tomilitary relationship.” Communication
During Mullen’s visit, military leaders of both sides didn’t avoid sensitive issues, such as the South China Sea, U.S. surveillance operations in waters near the Chinese coastline and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, said Meng Xiangqing, a professor with the PLA National Defense University in Beijing.
This reflects the fact that military relations between China and the United States are maturing, just as in interpersonal exchanges—when two persons become more familiar, they talk in a more frank way and tend to put their differences on the table, Meng said.
It is “inappropriate” for the United States to participate in military drills in the South China Sea, as China and a number of Southeast Asian countries are embroiled in disputes over the region, Chen said after holding talks with Mullen on July 11.
Several Southeast Asian states, including the Philippines and Viet Nam, have asserted claims over the oil- and gas-rich South China Sea. But history shows China has indisputable sovereignty over the sea’s islands and their surrounding waters.
Though the United States has said on many occasions it has no intention of interfering in South China Sea disputes, it has continued to hold military drills in the region, he said.
The United States conducted an 11-day joint military exercise near the South China Sea with the Philippines beginning June 28 and is planning to hold joint naval activities with Viet Nam in July.
China’s position on the South China Sea is consistent and clear. It believes disputes over the region should be solved through negotiations, Chen said.
On U.S. surveillance operations in waters near the Chinese coastline, Chen said China is a responsible country and there is no need for the United States to conduct frequent surveillance on China. Surveillance activities can only create obstacles for Sino-U.S. military cooperation.
The two sides didn’t go any further on the South China Sea issue, but expressed their respective positions, said CASS’ Tao.
Despite glaring differences, both sides are fully aware of the importance of Sino-U.S. relations. That’s why they have been able to cooperate in areas where they have common interests and communicate with each other on contentious issues, Tao said.
In the coming months, more exchanges are slated to take place between Chinese and U.S. armed forces. According to a consensus reached between Chen and Mullen, the commander of one of the PLA’s military regions will visit the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Command in the third quarter of this year. The commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Command will visit China by the end of the year.
Hospital ships of Chinese and U.S. navies will carry out joint medical and rescue drills. The two navies will also conduct anti-piracy drills in the Gulf of Aden in the fourth quarter of this year. Armed forces of both sides will conduct humanitarian rescue and disaster relief drills in the third quarter of next year.
“Since Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States in January this year, military relations between the two countries have been on a path of improvement,” said Tao Wenzhao, a research fellow on U.S. studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
Mullen completed his four-day visit on July 13. It was a reciprocal visit following the trip of Chen Bingde, Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), to the United States in May.
Transparency
Mullen’s visit showed Sino-U.S. military exchanges had returned to normal and made headway, said Yuan Peng, Director of the Institute of American Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.
The Chinese Government suspended military talks with the United States after Washington announced an arms sales package to Taiwan in January 2010. Talks were not resumed until Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie met then U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in Hanoi nine months later. Ensuing exchanges, including Gates’visit to China in January this year and the holding of the Sino-U.S. Strategic Security Dialogue in Washington, D.C. in May, further advanced bilateral military ties.
Moreover, the launch of Sino-U.S. Asia-Pacific consultations in June enabled both sides to engage in deeper and broader exchanges on regional issues, Yuan said.
The agenda China arranged for Mullen during his visit featured high-level meetings, military base visits demonstrating the PLA’s openness, and multiple forms of exchanges, said Luo Yuan, a research fellow with the PLA Academy of Military Science.
Mullen met a number of senior Chinese officials, including Chen, Liang and Vice President Xi Jinping. His visit to the Second Artillery Force Headquarters in Beijing on July 10, in particular, showed the PLA’s increasing transparency to the United States.
As a sensitive unit that controls China’s strategic missiles and nuclear arsenal, the Second Artillery Force has long limited its access to U.S. officials, said Wu Xinbo, a professor with the Center for American Studies at Shanghai’s Fudan University.
In recent years, however, several U.S. military officials have been invited to visit its headquarters, including former U.S. defense secretaries Donald Rumsfeld in 2005 and Gates in January this year.
During his stay in China, Mullen also observed an anti-terror drill conducted by a mechanized infantry unit stationed near Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province. He visited an air force base in Shandong Province and a submarine base in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, as well.
At the same time, Mullen reached out to young Chinese by delivering a speech, titled “Cooperative Security and Regional Stability in Asia,” at the Renmin University of China in Beijing and answering students’questions.
Commenting on his China trip, Mullen said exchanges between Chinese and U.S. military officials have helped “clear up the lack of transparency.”
“We are just beginning,” he said. “The relationship is just recently renewed. So we have a long way to go, and the leaders are very committed to that. I’m actually very confident in the future of the military-tomilitary relationship.” Communication
During Mullen’s visit, military leaders of both sides didn’t avoid sensitive issues, such as the South China Sea, U.S. surveillance operations in waters near the Chinese coastline and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, said Meng Xiangqing, a professor with the PLA National Defense University in Beijing.
This reflects the fact that military relations between China and the United States are maturing, just as in interpersonal exchanges—when two persons become more familiar, they talk in a more frank way and tend to put their differences on the table, Meng said.
It is “inappropriate” for the United States to participate in military drills in the South China Sea, as China and a number of Southeast Asian countries are embroiled in disputes over the region, Chen said after holding talks with Mullen on July 11.
Several Southeast Asian states, including the Philippines and Viet Nam, have asserted claims over the oil- and gas-rich South China Sea. But history shows China has indisputable sovereignty over the sea’s islands and their surrounding waters.
Though the United States has said on many occasions it has no intention of interfering in South China Sea disputes, it has continued to hold military drills in the region, he said.
The United States conducted an 11-day joint military exercise near the South China Sea with the Philippines beginning June 28 and is planning to hold joint naval activities with Viet Nam in July.
China’s position on the South China Sea is consistent and clear. It believes disputes over the region should be solved through negotiations, Chen said.
On U.S. surveillance operations in waters near the Chinese coastline, Chen said China is a responsible country and there is no need for the United States to conduct frequent surveillance on China. Surveillance activities can only create obstacles for Sino-U.S. military cooperation.
The two sides didn’t go any further on the South China Sea issue, but expressed their respective positions, said CASS’ Tao.
Despite glaring differences, both sides are fully aware of the importance of Sino-U.S. relations. That’s why they have been able to cooperate in areas where they have common interests and communicate with each other on contentious issues, Tao said.
In the coming months, more exchanges are slated to take place between Chinese and U.S. armed forces. According to a consensus reached between Chen and Mullen, the commander of one of the PLA’s military regions will visit the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Command in the third quarter of this year. The commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Command will visit China by the end of the year.
Hospital ships of Chinese and U.S. navies will carry out joint medical and rescue drills. The two navies will also conduct anti-piracy drills in the Gulf of Aden in the fourth quarter of this year. Armed forces of both sides will conduct humanitarian rescue and disaster relief drills in the third quarter of next year.