RIMPAC builds military confidence

From June 26 to Aug 1 in Hawaii, the People's Liberation Army Navy for the first time joined the world's largest multinational maritime military exercise - the 2014 Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC. The Chinese navy dispatched the missile destroyer Haikou, the missile frigate Yueyang, the supply ship Qiandaohu and the hospital ship Peace Ark along with 1,100 officers and sailors on board, making it the second-largest contingent after that of the host nation, the United States.

"This is a major event for China-US military exchanges, and a good chance for us to conduct good relations with other navies in the region. It will also help upgrade PLA naval capabilities," said Xu Hongmeng, deputy commander of the PLA Navy.

China's involvement in RIMPAC sent a positive signal to the world community that both China and the US are serious about improving their military-to-military relations, said Zhao Xiaozhuo, deputy director of the Center for China-US Defense Relations at the PLA Academy of Military Science.

The RIMPAC drill, which began in 1971, was initially designed to help the US and its allies deter the Soviet Union in the Pacific Ocean. However, after the Cold War, it has been widely considered as targeting potential challengers, like Russia, China or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Now that the large-scale multilateral joint exercises and training are carried out in a more open-door way it can help eliminate doubts and ensure long-lasting security in the region.

Washington's invitation and Beijing's positive response thus constitute a beneficial interaction between the two sides based on their common interests, though China can obviously feel the containment intentions of the US, said Shen Dingli, associate dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University.

For both Washington and Beijing, China's participation is more significant symbolically than practically. It will not result in much progress in China-US military cooperation. But the symbolic meaning is still quite important because it shows both sides are willing to try to reduce tensions and manage their differences, said Chen Qi, a resident scholar of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy.

Military-to-military contacts had long been regarded as the least well developed and most vulnerable link in the China-US relationship.

Shen said the naval exercises demonstrate the Chinese navy's willingness and capability to take part in multilateral naval cooperation and Beijing's commitment to regional stability and world peace, and also show that the two nations have been making concrete steps toward confidence building, despite their differences on certain issues.

In fact, the Chinese navy's unprecedented participation in RIMPAC is part of the ongoing efforts on both sides to forge a new type of military relationship between the two nations. During their summit at Sunnylands, California, in June 2013, President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama agreed to build a new type of relationship to avoid major confrontations between the two powers.

Based on this understanding, bilateral military ties have started making progress since last year with the two militaries holding frequent high-level exchanges, including exchange visits by defense chiefs and joint exercises in the Gulf of Aden and the Pacific. China's participation represents a continuation of this positive momentum in military-to-military contacts.

"The US on the one hand wants to sustain its dominance over the world, while on the other it has to win other powers over for cooperation," Shen said. "Therefore, while guarding against China's rise into a major power equal to itself, the US also needs to encourage cooperation with China and try to seek China's support in maintaining regional stability and prosperity." Shen said. The consensus on building a new type of major power relationship opens a window to Beijing and Washington to enhance military mutual trust.

Therefore, though confrontational rhetoric between high-ranking officials at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in June highlighted contradictions and differences between China and US, such a face-to-face "showdown" will not negatively affect the development of bilateral military relations. This is the true meaning of building a new model of major-country relationship based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

Experts believe that the China-US relationship has now become mature enough to allow the two sides to frankly discuss differences so as to understand each other's strength and thinking, narrow differences, and eliminate misunderstanding and miscalculation.

"For the sake of military transparency and trust, the US should allow Chinese observers or military representatives to see most parts of the exercise. Washington should be more open and more confident and involve China more," Chen said.

"The US could continue inviting China for multilateral exercises, such as Cobra Gold and RIMPAC and accept PLA's greater involvement; likewise, the PLA could invite the US military to observe its exercises and visit more military facilities," said Zhou Bo, an honorary fellow with the Center for China-US Defense Relations at the PLA Academy of Military Science. China, Australia and the United States have declared that they will conduct their first trilateral military exercise in October.

chenlongxiang@chinadaily.com.cn