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China's military set to 'defend and cooperate'

By Simon Stafford: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, April 19, 2013

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Colonel Zhao Weibin, a research fellow at the Center on China-America Defense Relations under the Academy of Military Science, was interviewed by China.org.cn Thursday following the publication of a national defense White Paper.[Photo: China.org.cn]

She also touched on the regional hot-button issue of the Diaoyu Islands dispute, especially in light of an agreement signed Wednesday between Japan and Taiwan allowing fishermen from Taiwan to operate in waters near the islands.

According to Colonel Zhao, the agreement is a clear signal as to who is responsible for raising tensions over the issue; however, in line with the White Paper's assertion that China's coastal forces should safeguard the country's territorial integrity, she stated that China's military forces would simply play a supporting role to those agencies whose job is to deal with any territorial transgression.

"From this incident [the agreement between Japan and Taiwan], we can see again which country is repeatedly causing trouble on the Diaoyu Islands," she said. "As early as 1997, China and Japan have already signed an agreement on fisheries, so I think any agreement between the relevant department of Japan and Taiwan is not valid." She added: "But the armed forces of China will keep helping the law enforcement of relevant departments, such as the State Oceanic Administration, and the marine police – we will help in any way to keep the law and order of the seas."

Colonel Zhao also emphasized how the issues raised by the White Paper underlined the importance of improved relations between China and the U.S. According to the White Paper, China's Second Artillery Corps., which controls the country's nuclear ballistic and conventional missiles, is accelerating the informationization of its weaponry, which is designed to allow existing, trusted weaponry to be integrated with modern, military systems.

This has led to concerns that China's military information could be threatened following overseas hacking attacks with IPs allegedly based in the U.S. Colonel Zhao believes, however, that although China has been a victim of U.S. cyber attacks, cyberspace represents a tremendous opportunity for new cooperation between the two countries. "China has emphasized that it is [the main victim of hacking attacks] and most attacks are from IP addresses from the United States," she said. "But reports apportioning blame would be unhelpful for cooperation between China and the U.S. Cyberspace should be a new area for the two countries for building mutual trust and cooperation instead of a new area for friction and suspicion."

She added: "Just five days ago, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and the Secretary of State of the United States John Kerry met and agreed to establish a working group on cyber security issues under the framework of strategic and economic dialogue. This is a very positive sign for the two countries to cooperate in the field of cyberspace security."

Colonel Zhao spelled out a number of areas in which the two countries could cooperate in practical terms with regard to the issue of cyberspace. "First is to counter cyber crime, and achievements have already been made in this area," she said. "The second area is counter-terrorism. Cyberspace is a new space, a new area for terrorism to recruit new members and also to raise money and disseminate news. In this field, I think both countries are also victims of terrorism and we can work together to prevent the proliferation of cyber weapons."

Colonel Zhao was also bullish about prospects for joint military drills between China and the U.S. which she sees as an opportunity to forge a new era in Sino-U.S. relations.

"We know that [the] Sino-U.S. relationship is one of the most important relationships in the international community," she said. "As for areas of cooperation, actually we have achieved a lot in the area of non-traditional security, for example in counter-terrorism and counter-piracy, disaster relief, joint search and rescue."

She continued: "Another potential area [for Sino-US cooperation] is to provide some security products for the region. For example, [China and the U.S.] may try to establish some kind of security mechanism in which both China and the U.S. may play a leading role. That would provide a guarantee for the sustainable and positive development of the two countries."

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