Chinese aircraft carrier brings US out in spots
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GT: China's desire to equip itself with aircraft carriers is interpreted by the US as military assertiveness. But China is the only US country with no aircraft carrier. Given China's security environment, the Chinese public also wants the country to have an aircraft carrier. What do you think of the US view on the issue?
Finkelstein: What the United States thinks about China having an aircraft carrier is much less important than having the Chinese government explain to the world why it believes it needs an aircraft carrier.
Other than prestige, what national security imperatives does China have that require the ability to project military force far beyond its territorial waters? This is not a rhetorical question, it's a legitimate question. This is a question that only the Chinese government can answer.
The acquisition of a major military system with inherent force projection capabilities, such as an aircraft carrier, requires transparency of purpose.
If there is no transparency of purpose, of course questions will arise about intentions.
GT: Robert Willard, the Commander of the US Pacific Command, said recently in Japan that he believed that the Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile had already achieved initial operational capability, and that the military balance is shifting as China's military expands faster than other regional nations. How do you see this?
Han: The US wants to retain its global hegemony and also preserve its regional interests. It is not comfortable with China's military rise.
But stability and peace exist in dynamic, not static, balance. Stability and peace do not mean an absence of friction.
In fact, balance is achieved through friction. China's naval strength is growing. Now its military rise is helping promote a new balance. The US should accommodate China's military growth in a tolerant fashion.
It would help if the US could resist the temptation of aggressive acts such as ignoring China's opposition and insisting on carrying out military drills in the Yellow Sea.
GT: The US has deployed two aircraft carriers around China as part of its drive to strengthen its diplomacy in East Asia. This will inevitably create more clashes with a rising China and contribute to more tension. How do you see this?
Finkelstein: The US has been deploying aircraft carriers across Asia and in its various seas since World War II. There is nothing new in recent US Navy deployments.
Moreover, in as much as recent operations have been conducted in international waters, and since it has been crystal clear that those deployments were linked to transgres-sions by North Korea, it is curious, if not depressing, that there is an inherent assumption on the part of some Chinese friends that these activities are part of a "new US strategy in Asia," with some Chinese friends asserting that the real purpose of these deployments is aimed at China. The latter is inherently untrue.
GT: Military communication is the weakest link in the Sino-US relationship, and could jeopardize the whole relationship. In what areas can the two countries improve military cooperation?
Finkelstein: There are various non-traditional security challenges that the US and Chinese defense establishments could work on together with a common purpose.
These cover a wide range of activities such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peacekeeping operations, non-combatant evacuations, anti-smuggling operations, and anti-piracy operations, as demonstrated by the two navies off the Horn of Africa.
But the most important area where the two militaries need to cooperate and work together is in building a sustainable military relationship that will not be sacrificed on the altar of indignation every time there is a disagreement - even on contentious and sensitive questions such as Taiwan.
In the past it was assumed that problems in military relations could be isolated from the larger bilateral relationship and that problems between military officials would not affect the larger relationship. I for one am no longer willing to accept that assumption.
How can the US and China possibly achieve a cooperative, positive and comprehensive relationship if the military dimension continues to fail?
The two sides must start anew to try to bridge the widening gulf of mistrust that has been festering over the past few years.
That does not mean the two sides will agree on all issues. It does mean that lines of communication are kept open in order to ensure that mistrust does not metastasize into miscalculation.
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