China-US military relations move ahead with difficulties

The China-US military relations, which sank to an all-time low in the year 2010, began to take a gradual turn for the better at the beginning of 2011.

In January, Robert Gates, former United States Secretary of Defense visited China. In May, Chen Bingde, chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA)， visited the US and communicated openly and sincerely with various departments of the American side, expressing our concern over safeguarding our core interests and showing our sincerity for cooperation.

In July, Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US, paid a return visit to China and the Chinese side arranged him to visit and communicate with the related troop units of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Second Artillery Force of the PLA, panoramically showing him the style and features of the PLA. In a series of high-level contacts, the PLA expressed its attitude of attaching importance to the development of the military relations with the US with an open attitude and constructive measures.

Meanwhile, such exchanges of mechanism as the defense consultation between the Ministry of National Defense (MND) of China and the US Department of Defense (DOD) , the consultation on the maritime military safety and the work meeting between the MND and the DOD were held as planned.

In May, 2011, within the framework of the third round of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogues (S&ED)， a strategic security dialogue mechanism participated in by high-level diplomatic and military officials of the two sides was also established. These dialogues and communication of mechanism have promoted mutual understanding and prevented the occurrence of misunderstandings and misjudgments.

Besides, the two militaries have also conducted various professional exchanges, which have played a part in deepening understanding, learning from each other and promoting mutual trust. These exchanges and cooperation fully demonstrate that the PLA is determined to carry out the important consensus reached by the heads of the two countries and has made real efforts to push forward the relations between the two militaries to a new high.

However, the China-US military relations which had been gradually getting back on normal track fell into trouble again due to US arms sales to Taiwan. On September 21, 2011, the US Department of Defense announced an arms sale plan worth $5.852 billion to Taiwan, which inevitably affected some scheduled high-level exchanges, joint drill and major activities between the two militaries. The United States ignored China's core interests time after time and harmed the China-US military relations once again.

For a long time, the China-US military relations are facing three major obstacles: US arms sales to Taiwan, US military's constant low-altitude and offshore reconnaissance to China, and restrictions set by the US laws on China-US military exchanges. In addition, US blockade of military technologies and embargos on armament to China have lasted over two decades. The China-US military relations can hardly move forward smoothly unless the United States makes serious efforts to remove the three major obstacles.

Looking into the year 2012, both China and the United States are facing more complicated and severe security challenges, yet joint response to the new challenges will bring new cooperation opportunities to the two militaries. China and the United States are committed to making joint efforts to build a cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit for win-win results. Against such background, the two militaries should devote to building new military relations on the basis of mutual respect and win-win cooperation.