The South China Sea Problem Is a Mirror to Observe America’s Complex State of Mind

The Proper Way to Communicate with China

The U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, visited China recently. It was also a follow-up visit to General Chen Bingde’s visit to the U.S. in May. Under the joint promotion of the U.S. and China, the Sino-American military relationship has shown positive tendencies, which have been hard-earned and will require constant attention from both sides.

A speech made by Mullen at Renmin University gained wide attention. He said that today’s China is not the same as it was ten years ago, and it will keep changing in the following decade. China is no longer a rising world power. In fact, it has already become a world power.

Discussing whether or not China is a world power is not news, and the inherent meaning of “China’s responsibility” is quite obvious. What is important is not how the U.S. official described what kind of country China is, but whether the U.S. can treat China as an equal partner, which is essential to the development of a productive Sino-American military relationship.

In the comprehensive and multi-faceted relationship between the U.S. and China, changes to the military relationship between the two sides is usually dependent on changes in other aspects of the Sino-American relationship. The Sino-American military relationship is the weakest. It is often the first to be hurt whenever there are ups and downs between the two countries, and it is often hurt the most seriously. Besides the sensitivity of the Sino-American military relationship, the basic reason lies in the fact that military movements often relates to their core interests and thus seriously affects both countries’ national attitudes.

What America should know is that the obstacle that has hindered the Sino-American military relationship is neither the lack of Chinese military transparency nor China’s aggressive attitude. The fundamental reason is that the U.S. still wants to contain China even though it has publicized its positions, and the U.S. has frequently taken action to violate China’s core interests. Only a country that respects other countries can win other countries’ respect.

The South China Sea problem mirrors America’s complex state of mind and trends in policy making. During the heating up of the South China Sea conflict, America, as the most powerful military entity, didn’t play its role to cool the situation; instead, it took advantage of the situation to show off its military prowess and attempted to profit from it. Some American media and scholars even publicly encouraged the U.S. military to involve itself in the South China Sea problem. The Washington Post called on the Pentagon to throw its support behind the Filipino military. Not long ago, the U.S. held joint military exercises with Vietnam and the Philippines. The Filipino interpreted this as evidence that the exercise was intended to consolidate American power behind the Philippines. Such actions on the part of the Americans to cause trouble is very inappropriate, which made the South China Sea problem even more complicated.

Another trend that is worth keeping an eye on is the brewing of “an evil wind” in Washington. Many congressmen and senators have worked hard to push the Obama administration to sell F-16 C/D fighter planes to Taiwan. We can imagine that once the U.S. continues selling weapons to Taiwan, the Sino-American efforts to promote bilateral military relations will all be wasted. The issue of weapons sales to Taiwan will be the key point to test whether the U.S. has wisdom in its dealings with China. If the problem is not solved, the foundation of the Sino-American military relationship will not be stable, which will inevitably affect Sino-American cooperation in other fields. China will definitely not naively believe that the U.S. has truly regarded it as a world power. We should not only listen to what Americans say, but also, and more importantly, observe how they act. Respecting China should start from respecting its core interests.

Perhaps we should say that the development of the Sino-American relationship faces an uncommon opportunity. How to turn this opportunity into reality? This no doubt requires the joint efforts of both China and America. Nevertheless, the first thing is for the U.S. to truly show its belief in the principles of respect, mutual trust, equality and reciprocity, which is what an international relationship should be. Whether it is a rising world power or already a world power, China is China.