Relativity of military transparency

In recent years, military transparency has been mentioned repeatedly in military contacts between China and other countries, especially the United States. On the issue of military transparency, three observations and three comments may be made from a Chinese military officer's perspective.

Military transparency has a role in enhancing mutual understanding and mutual confidence. Following the trend of globalization, international communications and exchanges gave birth to common practices and arrangements of military transparency, which became recognized gradually by more and more countries in the world.

However, transparency has also become an instrument of the strong to exert pressure on the weak. Obviously, transparency is in favor of the strong, as deterrence. For the weak, transparency means revealing weaknesses and becoming more vulnerable. Consequently, the stronger countries tend to make full use of military transparency as an instrument to exert pressure on or even bully weak countries, which cast a shadow on the positive trend of military transparency.