Security cooperation is an important dimension of China-US relations. For instance, in the aftermath of the spy plane incident in 2001, China-US relations were in a kind of stalemate and it was the anti-terrorism mission after the 9-11 incident that gave the two countries new momentum to push forward cooperation. Therefore, security issues on some occasions can even become the main element shaping China-US relations. It is quite meaningful to let China and the United States to continue their cooperation in the security domain.
However, it is not so easy for China and the US to maintain a cooperative security relationship, because security cooperation can produce profound implications in political and military areas. In the past eight months or so, China and the US have clashed over a series of issues ranging from tire and steel trade to US arms sales to Taiwan, and their cooperation on security issues has obviously been weakened. Also, China-US military exchanges, resumed last spring and gradually developed last year with the overall bilateral relationship, have been at a pause again. High-ranking officers from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and US defense establishments crossed verbal swords at the 9th Asia Security Summit in Singapore in early June and then the two sides were involved in multiple military exercises in and around the Yellow Sea and the South China Sea. All these incidents indicate that China-US security cooperation, in spite of their recognized importance and necessity, is rather fragile. It can frequently be felt in the following two aspects:
First, China-US security cooperation is easily disturbed. On several occasions China-US military exchanges have stopped, of course, for different reasons. For the Chinese side, it cannot continue military exchanges with the US if the latter challenges China’s “core interests” such as the Taiwan and Tibet issues. For the US side, it cannot exclude the possibility of non-cooperation just because some elements with certain mentality are not interested in the exchanges with the Chinese military. On some other occasions, China-US military relations have also been damaged by incidents, such as plane or ship collisions. Thus, previous experience indicates that China-US security cooperation lacks predictability. It is imperative to improve the continuity of China-US security cooperation.
Secondly, the effectiveness of China-US security cooperation is also put into doubt. Since China and the US prefer different approaches in dealing with international security affairs, they sometimes cannot reach a consensus in practice. For example, on the North Korean and Iranian nuclear issues, China takes a more balanced consideration on regional stability and nuclear proliferation, while the US is more extreme in emphasizing the criteria of nuclear nonproliferation. Thus, although China and the US do have common interests on issues such as nuclear nonproliferation, anti-terrorism and etc., their cooperation is still not as smooth as expected because of different priorities on agendas. The two countries ought to make efforts to consolidate and expand their common interests and more importantly to transit their recognition of common interests into common actions.
1. Consolidating and Expanding Common Interests
There is no doubt that China and the US have a lot of common interests, because the new international environment provides more chances for China and the US to cooperate. Unlike the relations between the US and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War, major powers in the era of globalization find that they can benefit more from cooperation rather than from confrontation. China in the late 1970s began to place economic development as the premier goal of its national strategy and this grand strategy has never been changed since. On the other hand, the US, although over-emphasizing military actions for a while, has come to realize the new consensus on stressing domestic development, a point demonstrated by the latest National Security Strategy of the US. Thus, neither China nor the US wants to involve in military confrontations with each other. On the contrary, they want to reduce unstable elements in the world and regional environment, although occasionally their definition of the “elements” may not be totally in line with the other side’s view.
Anyway, globalization provides a broader stage for China and the US to cooperate, but it is too simplified to think that globalization by itself can keep China and the US together. In reality, we can see a clear slowdown in China-US cooperation since late last year. That case shows, without careful guidance and protection, the deep-rooted differences between China and the US in geo-political, ideological, economic, and many other aspects can ruin the still fragile momentum of cooperation. Therefore, it is helpful for the two Governments to firmly hold on to the correct direction of China-US relations while bilateral ties face difficulties. China and the US must frequently review and reaffirm their commitment to cooperate globally, regionally and bilaterally.
2. Transiting Common Interests to Common Actions
With cooperation commitments on one side, China and the US on the other side face substantial challenges on how to materialize their cooperation. In fact, China-US security relationship is rather special. It is different from the ties between the US and Japan or those between the US and Sweden. To China and the US, they are both partners and competitors, pursuing cooperation while never abandoning hedging the other side. Therefore, the two countries in the first place have to consider how to balance the two sides of their security relationship. It may not be realistic currently to expect them to get rid of the hedging strategy, but they should take effective measures to restrain competition, so that their cooperation on global and regional security issues will not be hindered.
Secondly, China and the US have not reached a consensus on how to share the costs in security cooperation. After reflecting on the over-stretched strategy of counter-terrorism, the US, caught in throes of the financial crisis, tends to encourage more countries to share global responsibilities. China, maintaining a double-digit growth during 2003-2007, is regarded by the US as the country having the capability to pay more in international affairs, although in the global network of partnership knitted by the US China has not been seen as a global and all-dimensional partner like the United Kingdom or Japan. On the other hand, China has the intention to contribute more to the world with its deeper involvement in international affairs, but it should be for China to decide whether it will shoulder more responsibilities on a specific issue, depending on its judgment and capability. Thus, China and the US sometimes have different understandings of some specific “responsibilities,” and that confines China-US cooperation on security issues, too.
Thirdly, China and the US should make a better and effective use of institutions on security issues. Institution building is a weaker part in China-US security relations, but there are some institutions, including the Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) and some other arrangements between the two militaries and other departments. Unfortunately, it is hard at present to avoid military exchanges from being disturbed by severe conflicts between the two countries, but China and the US still can find room to stabilize and deepen security cooperation, for example, to regulate at multiple levels their dialogues and discussions on regional and global security problems. By providing tangible proposals or reports on specific topics, the institutions may supply sustainable platforms for bilateral cooperation.
3. Properly Handling “Core Interests”
The difficulties for China and the US to transit political willingness of cooperation to tangible action, to some extent, reflect the low strategic trust between the two countries. There are various reasons for the distrust or mistrust. Some are related to the structural problems between a rising power and an existing superpower, and some are just because of different policy priorities, economic conditions, behaviors and etc. China and the US should adroitly handle their differences, preventing technical problems from being raised to deepen strategic ties.
In dealing with the differences and conflicts, the so-called “core interests” issues must be given special attention. “Core interests” is a new phrase emerging in China-US relations, and the content and the definition of the concept are still open to debate. In spite of this, properly handling the “core interests” issues is crucial to maintaining and pushing forward security cooperation, because those issues are actually parts of the parameters that one country takes to judge the other side’s strategic intentions. Therefore, unless there is respect and mutual “core interests” are taken care of, China and the US cannot carry out substantial security cooperation.
On the whole, China and the US must face up to the problems in their security cooperation. It should be noted that China-US relationship, to some degree, is like a boat sailing against the tide: either moving forward or slipping back.
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