During his recent visit to China, Admiral William J. Fallon, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, invited the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to send representatives to watch the U.S. military drill to be held in Guam. The Chinese side responded by showing interest in considering the matter. This is a positive signal worth attention in the Sino-U.S. military relations, said an article on People's Daily Overseas Edition, May 18, by Rear Admiral Yang Yi, director of the Institute for Strategic Studies, National Defense University of China.

Relations in the military field, among others, are always the most sensitive indicators of ties between countries, and are usually the first to be severed and the last to be resumed. Since the establishment of Sino-U.S diplomatic ties decades ago, relations between the two armies have been most unstable, and were plunged into the lowest tide upon the April 2001 collision of a Chinese jet and a U.S. Navy spy plane in China's southern coastal sea. But exchanges have gradually resumed and expanded in recent years under the direct push of leaders from both parties.

When it comes to military exchanges between China and the U.S., the article said, two questions cannot be avoided -- the correctness of China's development of its military might and the "military transparency" often demanded by Washington.

In recent years, some countries led by the U.S. have ceaselessly stirred up "China threat" waves. They played up China's proper need to develop military forces into a threat to regional and world peace, and at the same time accused China of setting barriers to increasing military mutual trust by the lack of transparency in the process of military development.

As a matter of fact, to develop and possess moderate military forces is a proper right of every sovereign state in safeguarding national security and interests. Due to a long-term shortage in defense input, China still cannot fully cope with traditional and non-traditional security challenges in terms of overall deterrence and combat capability. The military gap between China and developed countries is not narrowed, but continuously enlarged. Even compared with armies of some medium and small sized countries, our weaponry lags behind in technology and quality. Therefore, it is only right and proper that China develop moderate military might, which will never pose a threat to other countries, the article said.

Talking about "military transparency", we should say that nothing is absolute, and transparency is no exception. Along with the deepening of informalization, most information can be obtained simultaneously through open channels. The U.S, relying on its overwhelming advantage in this aspect, is particularly capable of holding important information of other countries regarding military equipment, technology and forces.

In our opinion, "military transparency" should include not only technical indicators such as budget, army scale and weaponry, but also strategic intentions. The U.S. strategic intentions on many major issues are far from being transparent, such as its military intervention in cross-Straits conflict and the application scope of U.S.-Japan military alliance. It even deliberately kept "strategic ambiguity". While pushing forward with terrorism fight, Washington has never forgotten to seize strategic hubs and adjust military deployment, displaying a strategic objective of doing one thing under cover of another.

China is the first among world countries to declare no first use of nuclear weapons against any country, and no use, or threat to use, of nuclear weapons against nuclear-free countries. We also promised complete destruction of nuclear weapons in the end. We solemnly declared to the world that China would never take the road of development via military expansion, as some powers once did. In terms of strategic transparency, we should say, China is standing at a "moral height".

As two powerful countries bearing on world peace and prosperity, China and the U.S. should engage in military contacts based on equality and mutual benefit. In military communication, the two sides should exchange views on major issues honestly, face contradictions squarely and pay attention to each other's concerns while striving for their respective interests. Through military exchanges, we hope, we can reduce suspicion, enhance mutual trust so as to safeguard the sound, stable development of China-U.S. relations.

By People's Daily Online