Sino-U.S. military ties progress with trust, retrogress with suspicion

Thanks to joint efforts of Chinese and American military leaders, China's Central Military Commission (CMS) Vice-Chairman Xu Caihou's visit to the United States has laden with positive, fruitful results. Xu and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates reached consensuses for cooperation on seven major issues, including cooperation in humanitarian rescue and disaster relief, the war on terrorism, the exchange and training of officers, and joint sea rescue drills.

In addition, they also have had a very candid exchange of views on the avoidance of conflicts and smooth advancement of bilateral friendly military relations of cooperation between the two nations.

The successful visit of General Xu's to the U.S. is expected to give a powerful impetus to the in-depth growth of Sino-U.S. military ties, which is owed much to the re-employment of such cardinal principles as those for the mutual respect, mutual trust and seeking common ground between the two nations while reserving their differences.

During the talks, Gates' remarks about the U.S.-China military ties have caught global attention. He said the military-to-military ties are a component part of the overall bilateral relationship and there is still much space for cooperation between the two militaries.

The U.S.-China military relationship should be developed with a view to expanding common interest and the two sides should break its cycle of "on-again, off again" in their military-to-military relationship to foster a stable growth momentum, he said. This is indeed a good proposal and it hit the essence of the matter "on again, off again" in Sino-U.S. military ties in recent years. So, the mutual respect for the core interests is a great prerequisite for the development of Sino-U.S. military ties.

We must admit that there exist major differences in ideology, political and social systems, history, culture and values between China and the U.S., and they are in different phases of historical development. So, it is, as a matter of fact, a natural phenomena shaped by the two countries far apart from each other geographically and by the two nations, which are in different stages of environment in historical development, and so it is precisely the choice of their people in the development of history. What is most regrettable, however, is that these differences have been used as an excuse deliberately to suspect or antagonize China's development.

The contemporary Chinese people, acting in accordance with the wisdom of their ancestors more than 2,000 years ago, have summed up a truth: Peace benefits both and confrontation jeopardizes both, as the international relations are something like "a matter of human relations". The growth of Sino-U.S. military relations has, nevertheless, given an eloquent proof of this irrefutable truth, which looks simple and easy to comprehend, but is quite difficult to materialize in practice.

"A high mountain does not reject boulders, and a great ocean does not rebuff stream," as a meaningful classic Chinese saying goes. People in China have kept firmly in mind every bit of help the U.S. government and people have rendered them in history. In the post-cold war era, China has put an end to its ideological restrictions and striven to develop its cooperative ties with countries the world over on the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit; China has earnestly learned from all advanced things from the U.S. with an open approach instead of following the beaten track of taking the nation as its "sworn foe". Objectively speaking, the achievements China has so far attained contain much sophisticated experience and technologies it has imparted from the U.S.

History has proven that China's fast development has derived from the correct, wide leadership by the Communist Party (CPC) and the Chinese government, assiduous efforts made by the Chinese people and their opening-up drive and cooperation with the outside world, and no force whatsoever hinder or stop them. In this regard, China's military development has neither had any sinister scheme nor any intent to intimidate any others.

In face of the current world beset with crises, any single, individual force is inadequate to cope with crisis. China and the U.S. are important countries in the world, and have unshakable responsibilities for global peace and security. Both nations should deem it their own duty or responsibility for the promotion of permanent peace and security for humanity; both should discard the cold war mentality, act in line with new principles of equality, respect and cooperation, seek the common ground while reserving their differences, reduce suspicion, and increase the mutual confidence, so as to build up a Sino-U.S. strategic partnership in the 21st century and work together to meet stark challenges facing the humanity. This could bring happiness to their people and to the people around worldwide as well.

By People's Daily Online and contributed by Wang Xinjun, an associate researcher of war theory and strategy at China's Academy of Military Sciences