Asia-Pacific
Sino-US talks ease maritime concerns
By Cheng Guangjin (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-18 07:50
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BEIJING - Beijing and Washington held two days of maritime security talks late last week in Hawaii in what analysts said was the latest sign of an ongoing thaw in military relations over the past eight months.
The Ministry of National Defense said in a statement on Sunday that the two sides held annual consultations in Honolulu on Friday and Saturday under their Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA) mechanism, Xinhua News Agency reported.
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Analysts see this meeting as a pragmatic move after the two countries resumed military dialogues earlier after eight-month freeze. However, they added, unless Beijing and Washington increase political mutual trust, military ties will remain as uneven as they have been over the course of the past three decades.
China suspended military relations with the US outright in January after objecting to Washington's approval of a $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan by Lockheed Martin, a huge and influential private defense contractor.
Tensions continued to run high after Washington went on to attempt to internationalize the South China Sea disputes between China and other Southeast Asian nations. Relations were further aggravated when US naval forces conducted a series of joint military drills with the Republic of Korea near Chinese territorial waters.
Last week's meeting came days after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates accepted an open invitation from Defense Minister Liang Guanglie to visit Beijing during their meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam.
In June, China turned down a proposed visit by Gates.
The US Pacific Command said in a statement at the conclusion of the session that the talks were aimed at increasing safety of airmen and sailors and significant for a "sustained, reliable and meaningful military-to-military relationship", the Associated Press reported.
"This week's discussions were designed to increase safety of our sailors and airmen operating in proximity," said the US Marine Corps Major General Randolph Alles, who led the US delegation. "It was a professional and frank exchange."
Senior Colonel Zhao Xiaozhuo, an expert on US military affairs at Beijing-based Academy of Military Science said the scenarios of Sino-US military relations largely depend on the two countries' political mutual trust.
"Only when their political mutual trust reaches a high level, can the two countries' military relationship stride forward", said Zhao, "or it will only continue as it has been over the last 30 some years - this stop-and-go cycle."
This was the sixth time that the two countries' military ties were called off.
A similar suspension took place in 2001 when hostilities flared after a US spy plane crashed into a Chinese fighter jet defending the mainland. The Chinese pilot died and the US crew of 24 was detained in China's southern-most province of Hainan for 11 days.
This year, the two militaries have been caught up in several sea confrontations since March 8, when the USNS Impeccable, a US surveillance ship, was in a standoff with Chinese naval and fishing vessels some 120 km south of Hainan province.
"China and the US are neither allies nor enemies. They need contacts to improve mutual understanding to ensure timely information exchanges when similar incidents happen," said Zhao.
Both countries are aware that a suspension of ties does no good to either side, said Zhao, "especially considering the scale of Chinese and the US militaries, which are large enough to influence the East Asia region."
Yuan Peng, director of the Institute of American Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the meeting in Hawaii was timely and will help the two militaries to reduce inaccurate decisions.
"The recent tensions between China and US over the South China Sea and Yellow Sea issues show the two militaries lack sufficient trust, and occasionally make inaccurately strategic decisions," Yuan said.
"This meeting could control their conflicts within limits, and turn their military relationship back into a rational and healthy channel," Yuan said.
During the meeting on the weekend, Beijing, led by Rear Admiral Liao
Shining, deputy chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army Navy, and Washington, led by Major General Randolph Alles, director of the Strategic Planning and Policy Bureau of the US Pacific Command, also have reached agreements on the issues of next year's MMCA working group meetings.
The maritime talks are a continuation of contacts begun in the late 1990s but subject to frequent interruption. They were last held in September 2009.
Zhou Wa contributed to this story.