If China and the US don't miscalculate, Pacific will be at peace
By People's Daily |
May 11, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TENSIONS are high in the Asia-Pacific region, especially as the Huangyan Island issue keeps escalating between China and the Philippines.
At this sensitive moment, China's defense minister Liang Guanglie's recent visit to the United States - the first such visit in nine years - is thus striking.
Liang and his US counterpart Leon Panetta reached a four-point consensus on May 7 that will lay down the framework for new Sino-US military cooperation.
Both sides have agreed to hold anti-piracy drills in the Gulf of Aden in the second half of this year. Hopefully, the joint exercises will deepen US-China commitment to global stability and prosperity.
In the nine years since the last visit by China's defense chief to the US, many things have changed profoundly.
China's economy is growing fast and steadily. Its military has made huge strides in modernization. Meanwhile, world peace and development is under threat from daunting emerging risks, like proliferation, global warming, regional armed conflicts and global terrorism.
Addressing these issues will entail countries' wisdom and openness.
Against this backdrop, the US "return" to East Asia will complicate the already complex security conditions in the region and fuel speculation it will back up smaller countries in standing up to China. Emboldened, the Philippines has contested China's sovereignty over Huangyan Island and even attempted to internationalize the row.
Some people observe that China and the US have been ever closer economically but they run a deficit of mutual strategic trust. This, however, doesn't mean countries like the Philippines can roil the neighborhood by playing the US off against China.
So far no member of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations has sided with the Philippines in its dispute with China, and the US has proclaimed its neutrality.
The Pacific Ocean is big enough for China, the US and other nations to coexist. It is a historical trend for China and the US and their armies to expand their consensus and common interests on the basis of equality and mutual respect to reduce frictions and eliminate strategic misperceptions. As long as China and the US don't miscalculate each other's motives, there will be lasting peace in the Asia Pacific region.
At this sensitive moment, China's defense minister Liang Guanglie's recent visit to the United States - the first such visit in nine years - is thus striking.
Liang and his US counterpart Leon Panetta reached a four-point consensus on May 7 that will lay down the framework for new Sino-US military cooperation.
Both sides have agreed to hold anti-piracy drills in the Gulf of Aden in the second half of this year. Hopefully, the joint exercises will deepen US-China commitment to global stability and prosperity.
In the nine years since the last visit by China's defense chief to the US, many things have changed profoundly.
China's economy is growing fast and steadily. Its military has made huge strides in modernization. Meanwhile, world peace and development is under threat from daunting emerging risks, like proliferation, global warming, regional armed conflicts and global terrorism.
Addressing these issues will entail countries' wisdom and openness.
Against this backdrop, the US "return" to East Asia will complicate the already complex security conditions in the region and fuel speculation it will back up smaller countries in standing up to China. Emboldened, the Philippines has contested China's sovereignty over Huangyan Island and even attempted to internationalize the row.
Some people observe that China and the US have been ever closer economically but they run a deficit of mutual strategic trust. This, however, doesn't mean countries like the Philippines can roil the neighborhood by playing the US off against China.
So far no member of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations has sided with the Philippines in its dispute with China, and the US has proclaimed its neutrality.
The Pacific Ocean is big enough for China, the US and other nations to coexist. It is a historical trend for China and the US and their armies to expand their consensus and common interests on the basis of equality and mutual respect to reduce frictions and eliminate strategic misperceptions. As long as China and the US don't miscalculate each other's motives, there will be lasting peace in the Asia Pacific region.
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