Opinion | US military chief remains a thorn in bilateral relations and that's the subtle message PLA is sending
By Augustus K. Yeung
INTRODUCTION
When two military superpowers are interacting in weird ways such as the American erratic and the Chinese lukewarm styles of communication, something serious must have gone wrong.
Why are they acting in ways that worry observers? How to help the United States and China to improve their bilateral relations. Shouldn't that worry us?
Besides, are there other important issues that the observers have missed? Afterall political sensitivity is not something that all observers may have; it takes a social scientist who cares enough about the US-China bilateral relations to understand what exactly has gone wrong.
Specifically, Chinese observers are understandably prone to the Chinese perspective, while international observers get a global view which sets the two ways of looking at the same social phenomenon apart.
Zhou Chenming said the invitation was a "message to Washington". "Beijing wants to use the resumption of military exchanges to tell Washington not to use "sanctions" to create problems for "rivals".
Song Zhongping said the garrison tour did not amount to "bilateral face-to-face engagement" – the kind of contact that promoted trust, which is missing in this "friend or foe" relationship that keeps people guessing.
Ni Lexiong agreed the tour was "routine", but the inclusion of the United States and other Western countries indicated "the PLA retains an open attitude to future cooperation with the US and Australia".
For now, perhaps it is better to present the newspaper report to the readers, and let them see whether there is any other way of interpreting the PLA's subtle but crucial "message".
Observers said the PLA's invitation indicated China's willingness to have regular military exchanges
Military attaches from the United States and Australia were among the dozens invited to tour the People's Liberation Army's garrison in Beijing, the first event of its kind since the pandemic.
The tour on Thursday (last May) came as the US said it would not consider lifting sanctions on Defense Minister Li Shangfu to pave the way for a meeting with the US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore this week.
Observers said the invitation from the PLA Ground Force indicated China's willingness to have regular military exchanges with Western forces.
More than 50 military attaches and officers from 43 embassies took part in the tour, the ground forces said on its WeChat social media account on Sunday.
Troops put on demonstrations of boxing, firearms drills and anti-terror training, and showed the visitors around the officers' dormitory.
The ground force said the tour was the first it had organized for foreign counterparts since the Covid-19 pandemic, and signaled China's efforts to promote mutual understanding, deepen mutual trust and forge friendship with other countries under its goal of "peaceful development".
Researcher said the invitation was a message to Washington not to mix up military-to-military exchanges with politics…
Zhou Chenming, a researcher with the Beijing-based Yuan Wang military science and technology think tank, said the invitation was a message to Washington.
"Beijing wants to use the resumption of military exchanges to tell Washington: don't mix up military-to-military exchanges with politics, and don't use 'sanctions' to create problems for your rival," Zhou said.
The PLA has maintained mid-level engagement and communication with its US counterpart, but the sanctions on Li have blocked high-level communications between the two militaries since Li was promoted to defense minister in March.
Beijing has also ignored requests by US Indo-Pacific commander Admiral John Aquilino and Austin to speak to or meet their Chinese counterparts, according to US military officers.
Song Zhongping, a former PLA instructor, said the garrison tour did not amount to "bilateral face-to-face engagement" – the kind of contact that promoted trust.
"In military diplomacy areas, bilateral in-person engagement shows good levels of trust on both sides, which is more valuable and effective than the kind of routine and multiple exchanges [on the garrison tour]," he said.
Ni Lexiong, a professor in the department of political science at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, agreed the tour was routine but the inclusion of the United States and other Western countries indicated "the PLA retains an open attitude to future cooperation with the US and Australia". (Source: SCMP)
CONCLUSION
Sanctioning China's Defense Minister is no small matter: the rationale must be rational, not a matter-of-fact way as Washington is weaponizing the concept of "sanction". In Chinese culture, the concept carries more weight than the way the Americans understand the term.
The Americans have been using the concept in excess, so much so that it has lost its sensitivity, reducing it to mundane or household behavior. But, to the Chinese who put "face" above everything else, sanctioning tantamount to slapping one's face, an utmost "insult".
What has General Li done to deserve this treatment of being sanctioned, the way the Americans have treated President Vladimir Putin of Russia for waging war on Ukraine? His crime was simply shopping – Russian weapons – not dropping bombs on American or Ukrainian territories.
In stark contrast, it is Lloyd Austin that the Chinese military subtly wants him sacked for various serious reasons which – until now they have not singled him out. And so, this becomes a guessing game for the Americans to wonder why the Chinese are behaving in "strange ways".
The Chinese are taking US-China relations seriously – as if it is the foundation or the cornerstone, held in reverence since the time President Richard M. Nixon monumentally initiated his China peace initiative in the 1970s.
The CPC is known for not being religious, but the US-China bilateral relations have been treated like the Holy Bible, to which the Chinese side holds in great respect, treating with great care.
Unfortunately, the US Ministry of Defense under the tutelage of Lloyd Austin is accused of abusing the "One China Principle", weaponizing the "Taiwan issue".
Sack Lloyd Austin – the warmonger – or crisis awaits.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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