Foreign and Military Affairs

Respecting core interests key to China-US ties

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-10-12 11:07

HANOI - Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie held talks with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates Monday in their first meeting since bilateral military ties soured in January.

With Gates accepting Liang's invitation to visit China early next month, expectation is rising that the tete-a-tete between the two defense chiefs would signal an end to the nine-month cold spell over China-US military exchanges.

However, as Guan Youfei, deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Chinese Defense Ministry, noted at a press briefing following the meeting, military ties between Beijing and Washington are still trapped in an undesirable circle of stalemate, progress and stalemate.

A major obstacle hindering military relations between China and the United States is the latter's frequent and massive weapons sales to Taiwan, an inalienable part of China, Guan stressed, adding this is a consensus among the Chinese public.

According to norms governing international relations, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity are the most basic rights of any country. And to China, the Taiwan issue is a core concern involving its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Nothing is more important to the Chinese people than defending their country's core interests.

Washington pledged in a China-US joint communique in 1982 to gradually reduce the level of and eventually stop arms sales to Taiwan. But regrettably, its behaviors have repeatedly run counter to its promise, and thus the US should bear the blame for the tottering development of bilateral military ties.

Against the backdrop of the current international situation, a reality is becoming unmistakably clear that China-US ties have gone beyond the bilateral scope and are taking on mounting global significance. As an important ingredient, relations between the two countries' armed forces matter nothing less.

What is crucial to steering bilateral military ties toward a sustainable and steady development, as Liang stressed to Gates, is that both sides should respect and care for each other's core interests and major concerns.

Meanwhile, both Beijing and Washington should continuously consolidate strategic mutual trust, reduce suspicion and misjudgment, and properly settle differences and sensitive issues, Liang said.

China has repeatedly proved its sincerity in promoting military ties with the United States and its readiness to expand military cooperation under both bilateral and multilateral frameworks.

Despite the setback caused by Washington's latest weapons sales to Taiwan worth nearly $6.4 billion, China has never ceased contact between the two militaries, and dialogues and exchanges under some established frameworks will continue, according to Guan.

Beijing and Washington will hold their annual consultations on maritime security in Hawaii later this week, which will be followed by a new round of annual bilateral defense consultations in Washington, he said.

What now lacks in the bid to break the on-off circle of China-US military ties is Washington's sincerity, which should be based on its genuine respect for China's core interests and concrete moves in the right direction.