The US Should Stop Baseless Speculations Against China

As reported by Fengfeng Wang, on May 6 the U.S. Department of Defense published the “Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China,” which exaggerates China’s so-called opaque military budget and makes wild guesses about cyberwarfare conducted by China’s People’s Liberation Army and other issues. The report is full of libel against the Chinese army and self-contradictory wording that does more harm than good to the healthy development of Sino-U.S. relations.

The report argues that “it is difficult to estimate actual PLA military expenses due to China’s poor accounting transparency and incomplete transition from a command economy.” This accusation is completely groundless. In fact, the Chinese government has been publishing its defense budget to the world annually since 1978, and since 1995 it has made public the composition and main purposes of defense expenses in the form of governmental white books. China’s annual defense budget is included in the national budget submitted to the National People’s Congress for examination and approval. This process is completely open and transparent. According to the agreement of the General Assembly, the Chinese government decided to participate in the U.N. Military Transparency Mechanism from 2007 onward and submit an annual military spending report to the U.N. This indicates the positive attitude that the Chinese government has toward the improvement of military transparency and the promotion of mutual military trust among all the countries in the world.

The Pentagon’s report also speculates about the People’s Liberation Army’s abilities and actions in cyberspace and claims that some of the cyberattacks against the U.S. government “appear to be attributable directly to the Chinese government and military.” The report falsely claims that China is increasing its military’s level of technical expertise through “stated-sponsored industrial and technical espionage.” These accusations are completely untenable.

As we all know, hacker attacks are a global problem involving anonymity, transnationality and deceptiveness. When it comes to cyberattacks, the U.S. presumes that China is guilty of supporting hacking, an accusation that clearly cannot withstand scrutiny. The truth is that the military strength of the U.S. in the field of cyberspace is second to none, and the U.S. is the only country in the world that has publicly acknowledged conducting cyberwarfare against other countries, while China belongs to the disadvantaged group in the area of network security and is one of the countries that suffers from cyberattacks the most. China has always advocated a commitment by the international community to build a peaceful, secure, open and collaborative cyberspace, and it has opposed the idea of turning cyberspace into a new battlefield. Rather than making baseless accusations, countries around the world, including the U.S., should actively carry out cooperative efforts based on mutual respect and mutual trust in order to safeguard the peace and security of cyberspace.

On the Diaoyu Islands and other issues, the report levies unwarranted charges against China, ignoring history and law. It states that “in September 2012, China began using improperly drawn straight baseline claims around the Senkaku Islands,” which is “inconsistent with international law.” But the truth is that the Diaoyu Islands have always been Chinese territory, whether from a historical, geographical or legal point of view. China has indisputable sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands. The U.S., who violated relevant international conventions and had secret dealings with Japan, is the one that planted the seed for the long dispute over the Diaoyu Islands today.

The report continues to find faults on the issue of Taiwan and provoke conflicts, regardless of the general positive progress made in cross-strait relations in recent years. This attitude, which ignores the truth, is clearly absurd and makes it difficult for people not to associate it with the U.S. military’s lucrative arms sales to Taiwan.

On the one hand, the report indicates that the U.S. seeks to establish a “healthy, stable and reliable military-to-military relationship” with China, claiming that continued and substantial military contacts between China and the U.S. at all levels help to reduce risks of miscommunication, misunderstandings and misjudgment. On the other hand, it is full of unwarranted libel and groundless accusations against the Chinese military. This paradox clearly does not contribute to the creation of mutual understanding and trust between the two armies.

In the construction of the new Sino-U.S. military relations, mutual respect is a premise, equality and mutual trust are the basis and pragmatic cooperation is the way. To make a positive contribution to the construction of new Sino-U.S. relations, the U.S. should stop publishing military reports on the Chinese military and army that disregard the truth and make wild guesses.