OPINION> OP-ED CONTRIBUTORS
Relativity of military transparency
By Lu Yin (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-29 08:17

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.

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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.

First, transparency is a relative concept without a uniform standard. Military transparency involves revealing military information concerning national security. Hence, the degree of transparency is based on the precondition of national security interest being safeguarded. Every country has special laws and regulations for keeping military secrets and even the developed countries like the US is no exception. So, in general, there exists only relative transparency instead of absolute transparency. Different countries and people have different understanding of and different approaches to transparency due to their own circumstances, such as different domestic conditions and experience, different levels of strength of military power and different cultural and traditional background.

Second, building mutual trust is the foundation for achieving mutual transparency. A higher level of military transparency can only be achieved by deepening mutual trust. That is the reason why allied countries enjoy the highest level of military transparency. Moreover, the weaker countries feel insecure if they maintain the same level of transparency as the stronger countries, especially when they are facing the pressure from a country with which there is no deep mutual trust.

We can take the issue of military transparency between China and the US as an example. China is a responsible country pursuing a national defense policy that is defensive in nature and adamantly takes on the path of peaceful development. And, China has no intention to challenge the interests of the US in this region. And China is still a developing country. In terms of its national strength, especially military strength, China is no match for the US.

However, the US government, in official reports, mentions China again and again as a competitor that poses the biggest potential threat to the US. There are similar expressions in the Quadrennial Defense Review 2006, the annual reports on the Military Power of China and some other official documents. Not long ago, on Sept 15, the newly-released National Intelligence Strategy 2009 includes China among a number of nation-states that have the ability to challenge US interests in traditional (e.g., military force and espionage) and emerging (e.g., cyber operations) ways.

Apart from that, in spite of China's strong opposition, the US has been selling advanced weapons to Taiwan, challenging China's core interest. US military aircraft and naval vessels have been conducting frequent and intense reconnaissance activities in the EEZ of China. All those factors have negatively affected mutual trust between China and US, and subsequently, negatively affected military transparency between China and the US. It should be pointed out that while the US often accuses China of lacking transparency, the US military also has imposed restrictions on Chinese delegations visiting US military facilities.

Therefore, to thoroughly resolve the question of military transparency between China and the US, the US should take concrete action to enhance mutual trust and show its sincerity in advancing bilateral relations. Otherwise it would be difficult to achieve a high level of mutual military transparency. The Nuclear Posture Review 2002 is another example that may be cited here. While there is a lack of mutual trust between China and the US, and while China is named as one of seven target countries of nuclear attack in the review, how can China, as a country being listed as a target for nuclear attack, comfortably engage in nuclear dialogue and exchange with the US?

Third, China has been actively pursuing military transparency in recent years. China has published six editions of the Defense White Paper, revealing plenty of information of China's military development.

China actively participates in the international negotiations in the field of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation. China has taken concrete measures to faithfully fulfill its relevant obligations designated in such international treaties as NPT and CTBT. China has also participated in the UN Military Expenditure Transparency System and resumed the UN Conventional Weapons Registration System. The spokesmen system of the Ministry of National Defense was introduced last year and the official website of the Ministry of National Defense was released last month.

Moreover, China has been trying to enhance its military transparency by increasing and enlarging military contacts and cooperation with other countries and attempts to create a security environment featuring mutual trust and mutual benefit. What is also worth mentioning is that many of China's military facilities and assets, such as the headquarters of Guangzhou and Nanjing military regions, the headquarters of the Second Artillery, China's strategic missile force, the type 99 tank, which is the best main battle tank in China, the FB 7 military aircraft, and some other newest types of destroyers and frigates of the Chinese navy, were first shown to US military delegations in recent years.

With the improvement of mutual trust, a higher level of military transparency can be achieved. As a result, military-to-military relations and even state-to-state relations can be greatly improved. In terms of military transparency between China and the US, given the wide range of shared interests of the two countries and with the joint efforts of both sides, this problem will be eventually solved and mutual trust established.

The author is a researcher with the National Defense University.

(China Daily 10/29/2009 page8)