Tuesday, September 7, 2010

06/07 Who is to blame for strained China-U.S. military ties?

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates complained at a security forum in Singapore over the weekend about China's turning down his request for a visit to Beijing during his Asia tour, claiming that China's attitude "makes little sense."

There is no official confirmation from the Chinese side of Gates' complaint. But judging from a sequence of events, it is obviously not China, but the United States that should be blamed for the setback in bilateral military ties.

Military-to-military relations between China and the United States have been chilled since Washington decided in January to sell 6.4 billion U.S. dollars' worth of military hardware to Taiwan, including the advanced PAC-3 air defense missile system.

At the forum, General Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, made it clear that main obstacles exist in the development of bilateral military relations.

He mentioned the arms sales to Taiwan as well as frequent reconnaissance operations by the U.S. naval ships and aircraft in the waters and airspace of China's exclusive economic zones and U.S. legislation's restrictions on bilateral military exchanges.

As General Ma stressed, "the barriers between U.S.-China military relations are not built by China."

However, Gates' description of the arms sales as "nothing new" betrayed his insufficient understanding of the severity of the issue, which is not just an ordinary, but a serious problem disturbing the U.S.-China relations over the past 30 years.

The Taiwan issue concerns China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and its core interests. In a speech to the opening session of the second round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue in May, Chinese President Hu Jintao said China and the United States should respect each other's core interests and major concerns.

Sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity are a country's most basic rights recognized by the norms governing international relations, and to the Chinese people, nothing is more important than safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, Hu said.

According the U.S.-China joint communique of Aug. 17, 1982, Washington promised it would gradually reduce the level of arms sales to Taiwan, the quality and quantity of the arms sales to Taiwan will not exceed the previous level, and will eventually figure out ways to resolve the issue.

Regrettably, the United States has not fulfilled its obligations and continued its arms sales to Taiwan despite protests from China. As a result, since the establishment of bilateral relations, the high level China-U.S. military exchanges have been in what General Ma calls a strange cycle of "development, standstill, another development, another standstill."

China and the United States increasingly need each other to tackle challenges facing both countries and the world, which calls for close and sustained cooperation in military as well as political and economic fields.

But to achieve such kind of cooperation, it does make sense for the United States to show more understanding and respect for the feelings of the Chinese people on issues of its core interests.

25/05 The Second Round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing

The second round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue was held in Beijing on May 24 and 25. Chinese President Hu Jintao's special representative - Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo - co-hosted the dialogue together with U.S. President Barack Obama's special representative - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Financial Minister Timothy Geithner. The two sides discussed and reached consensus on strategic, overall and long-term issues between the two countries, focusing on building a proactive, cooperative China-U.S. relationship in the 21st century.

During the economic dialogue, both sides exchanged views on various world economic situations, transformation of the economic development method, and strengthening economic, trade and financial cooperation as well as the reform of global economic management structure and other topics. More consensuses were reached on these issues.

The dialogue will help to strengthen the two countries' economic growth and promote strong, sustained and balanced development of the global economy. Both sides believe, as the largest developed country and largest developing country, that the economic relations between the United States and China are no longer two-sided, and now have significant global influence. The two sides sat down and talked about issues of common interest and problems relating to their differing opinions in a frank and rational way.

This dialogue itself was a big achievement. With an increasingly closer economic relationship, China and the United States are becoming more aware of the differences in each other's history, culture, national condition, current stages of development, economic structure and market development. The two countries have become more reasonable and mature in dealing with disputes and problems of economic relations. On the basis of insisting on one's own principles, the two countries now have a better understanding of each other's opinions and reach consensus in many areas of cooperation, so as to better realize common interests. In strategic dialogue, the two sides stressed the promotion of China-U.S. relations in a new age, and respect for each other's core interests. Also on the agenda were big issues of common concern, strengthening cooperation on coordination on big international and regional issues, and common efforts in pushing forward international systems reform as well as the establishment of an Asia-Pacific cooperation mechanism. Government departments from the two sides held discussions in areas such as energy security, climate change, United Nations peacekeeping actions and more.

The world has now entered the post-financial crisis era. The situation facing China and the United States and their responsibilities makes it necessary for them to increase mutual trust through communication. Only by expanding cooperation will they achieve win-win results and only by strengthening coordination will they overcome challenges. Only joint efforts will help the ship of China-U.S. relations to weather heavy seas safely.

The China-U.S. relations are of great importance to the future of the two countries and to the whole world. To cultivate and deepen strategic mutual trust between the two countries is of key importance to the development of China-U.S. relations in the new era. It will be impossible for the two countries to reach consensus on every issue. When conflicts and disagreement arise, the key for the two countries to deal properly with sensitive areas is to do in accordance with the three China-U.S. Joint Communiqués and China-U.S. Joint Declaration and keep strengthening mutual trust. As long as they adhere to this correct direction, the two sides will be able to overcome disturbances and obstacles and ensure sound development of the China-U.S. relationship without being repeatedly set back.

The two sides are committed to strengthening the stable development of their relationship.

They agreed to communicate, discuss, coordinate and cooperate on bilateral, regional and global issues.

The two sides also exchanged views on the current situation on the Korean Peninsula and expressed their worries and concerns, both saying they believed that to ensure peace and stability on the Peninsula was very important. The Chinese side stressed that in the current circumstances, relevant parties should keep in mind the overall objective of maintaining peace and stability on the Peninsula and in Northeast Asia and try to stay calm, so as to deal properly with the problems and avoid a deteriorating situation.

China and the United States further talked about the active building of bilateral cooperation in the 21st century. The Chinese side stressed that this kind of relationship should feature cooperative partnership, rather than rivalry or enmity, peaceful coexistence rather than mutual defensiveness, win-win cooperation rather than damaging each other's interests, and equality rather than a bias in favor of one side or the other.

This relationship should be based on frank communication, mutual understanding as well as rational handling of each other's strategic intentions, respect and care for each other's core interests and major concerns, and dealing properly with conflicts and differences. The relationship should show a great degree of responsibility for the peoples of both countries and also the people of the rest of the world. It's not an alignment and does not target any third party.

Following the talks, Wang Qishan, Dai Bingguo, Hillary Clinton and Timothy Geithner attended a signing ceremony of bilateral cooperation documents and also a joint press conference.


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China, U.S. ties back on track

Xinhua, September 7, 2010

China will unswervingly promote the policy of reform and opening up, while creating sound environment for foreign companies operating in China, Vice Premier Wang Qishan told senior U.S. officials Monday.


Vice Premier Wang Qishan meets with Deputy National Security Adviser Tom Donilon in Beijing on July 6, 2010.



Wang exchanged views on China-U.S. ties and economic and trade cooperation with Lawrence Summers, head of U.S. President Barack Obama's National Economic Council, and Deputy National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, in a meeting in Beijing.

Wang said the two countries should bolster cooperation in areas such as economy and trade, investment, finance, new energy and infrastructure upgrading, as their economies are interdependent and complementary to each other.

China is ready to work with the United States to well implement consensus reached by state leaders of the two countries, for sustainable, healthy and steady development of bilateral ties, he said.

Wang said the international community should enhance cooperation because the world economy, though on the way to recovery, still encounters twists and turns.

He said China is focusing on the change of the growth pattern for more balanced development of the economy.

Summers and Donilon briefed Wang on the U.S. economy and the Obama administration's measures to stimulate the economy and create jobs.

They stressed that the United States and China should strengthen coordination in macro policies and promote cooperation for a strong, balanced and sustainable growth of global economy.

Also on Monday, Li Yuanchao, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with the two U.S. officials.

Li, also head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, said the Sino-U.S. ties had maintained a stable development since President Obama took office.

China would work with the United States to enhance dialogues and cooperation, while properly handling the differences, to push forward the bilateral ties, he said. Summers said the United States attached great importance to the U.S.-Sino relations and firmly believed that the two countries had broad interests and faced with common challenges, including sustainable development of global economy, regional security and climate change.

He said the United States was committed to working with China for a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship in the 21st century.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also met with Summers and Donilon on Monday. The two sides exchanged views on the future development of Sino-U.S. relations and regional and international issues of common concern.

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