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Military maneuvers
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-26 07:53

The first high-level military talks between China and the United States in 18 months, which concluded on Wednesday, has been described as "constructive" by US Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy.

It was more than an exercise in routine diplomatic courtesy as the two militaries reached substantial agreement on major issues of mutual concern.

Both sides expressed willingness to avoid a recurrence of recent incidents of confrontation between Chinese vessels and US naval ships off China's southern coast. Both agreed to resolve such incidents "as carefully as possible" should they happen to occur again.

This is a big step forward compared to the finger-pointing after the March standoff between a US spy ship and five Chinese fishing vessels. The US then accused the People's Liberation Army of being "increasingly aggressive", while Beijing lashed out at the Pentagon for espionage and violating China's marine sovereignty over its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea.

Military maneuvers

Though the talks yielded no unanimity on US navy vessels' operation in China's EEZ, both sides agreed to disagree on specifics and vowed to exercise utmost discretion. This suggests a maturing of military relations based on mutual respect, trust and benefit.

Indeed, Sino-American ties are too important to be tested by any potential dangers arising from any miscalculation. Both sides must do their best to avoid any possible military confrontation, even inadvertently.

Despite the positive conclusions during this round of talks, the development of China-US military ties continues to face a major obstacle: US weapons sales to Taiwan.

The thorny issue has derailed bilateral relations from time to time. The last setback was Sino-American defense consultations being suspended after the outgoing Bush administration announced a $6.5-billion arms package for Taiwan last year. Flournoy justified the previous administration's move by saying that there is "tremendous consistency over time," in terms of US policy toward Taiwan.

What she failed to acknowledge is that in the China-US communique signed on August 17, 1982, the US pledged that "it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan".

It also promised that "its arms sales to Taiwan will not exceed, either in qualitative or in quantitative terms, the level of those supplied in recent years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China, and that it intends gradually to reduce its sale of arms to Taiwan."

Obviously, Washington has failed to live up to its promise.

On the Korean Peninsula tensions, China pointed out that it shares the region's "serious concerns" about a nuclear Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). But the US should know that it cannot expect too much from China in resolving this issue.

Pyongyang has justified its latest provocative moves by citing the lack of guarantee for national security. Direct contacts between the DPRK and US may serve to ease the worries of the Pyongyang leadership.

(China Daily 06/26/2009 page8)