China shows new openness in military matters
- By Hardev Sanotra
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 17, 2015
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Chinese military research academy praises India's main battle tank Arjun.[File photo] |
China appears to have relaxed its natural secretiveness to emerge as a more open, confident state that is making hitherto closely guarded areas including military installations more accessible. Is this self-assurance a sign of an emerging superpower?
It would appear so, if recent visits to its military areas are any indication. China invited a group of Indian journalists to its military research academy in Beijing and its naval garrison in Shanghai, indicating that there has been a change in mindset in the corridors of power.
"We are opening up more and more, both politically and militarily," said Liu Degang, deputy commander of the Beijing-based military research academy. The deputy commander, who hosted the journalists at the academy (which researches heavy armor for the army, including battle tank design), was doing something the military establishment has perhaps never done before - open its doors to journalists from India. Not even locally based Indian journalists had ever visited the institution.
The visit to the Shanghai garrison was similar. It is rare for journalists to visit such sites, though military to military visits are common. China has been trying to assuage India's fears that the country is extending its naval power into blue waters with the aim of surrounding India with a "string of pearls" comprised of bases in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and other countries.
"There is no possibility of China creating a 'string of pearls' around India," Senior Captain and Chief of Staff Wei Xiaodong of the Shanghai Naval Garrison told journalists. He said China does not have a "policy of hegemony or [a plan] to be a military power in the region." Regardless of whether India believes this or not, what is certain is that Beijing is trying to reach out and allay Indian fears and concerns.
Wei also said that naval visits to Pakistan need not be seen by India as something of concern. In the case that China were to increase its naval visits to Indian ports, "would Pakistan fear our cooperation with India?" he asked, maintaining that China's relationships with the two countries are only bilateral in nature.
In Beijing, the Ministry of Defense was also more open to contentious questions, including some about its border dispute with India. Senior Colonel Yang Yujun, spokesman for the ministry, said that the consultancy mechanism between the two countries was functioning well and that both had shown willingness to maintain peace along the border.
Yang was accompanied by eight other experts and officials, including some from the navy and the air force, to try to explain China's perspective to the journalists. In a meeting that lasted more than four hours, they explained the country's stance and detailed the approach that China would like to take. This level of interaction has not happened before.
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