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Adhering to the purposes and principles of
the UN Charter, China persists in developing friendly relations and strengthening
cooperation with other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of
Peaceful Co-existence, and devotes itself to promoting international security
dialogues and cooperation of all forms.
Strategic Consultation and Dialogue
In recent years, China has intensified bilateral and multilateral strategic
consultation and dialogues with countries concerned in security and defense
fields which contribute to better mutual trust and mutual exchange and
cooperation.
With the strengthening of the strategic and cooperative partnership between
China and Russia, the two countries have established a senior-level meeting
mechanism to exchange views on major issues. They have also held consultations
on major strategic issues between relevant departments. In 2003, China
and Russia conducted a number of vice-foreign-ministerial level consultations
on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, the questions of Iraq and
the Middle East, and other international, regional and bilateral issues
of common concern. In 2004, the two countries held a counter-terrorism
working group meeting and consultation on strategic stability at the vice-foreign-ministerial
level. The two militaries established a consultation mechanism in 1997,
and the General Staff headquarters of the two militaries held the seventh
and eighth rounds of strategic consultations in 2003 and 2004 respectively.
China and the United States maintain consultations on non- proliferation,
counter-terrorism, and bilateral military security cooperation. In the
past two years, the two countries held three rounds of consultations at
the vice-foreign-ministerial level on strategic security, multilateral
arms control and non-proliferation, the sixth Defense Consultative Talk,
the third and fourth counter-terrorism consultations, and the second financial
counter-terrorism consultation. The military maritime and air safety working
groups under the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement held the third
and fourth meetings in Hawaii and Shanghai respectively.
China has conducted extensive strategic consultations and dialogues with
other countries. China and France established the relationship of strategic
dialogue in 1997, and have since held six rounds of such consultation.
China and the United Kingdom held two rounds of strategic security dialogue
in October 2003 and March 2004 respectively, and established the Sino-British
strategic security dialogue mechanism. The Chinese Ministry of National
Defense and its South African counterpart signed an agreement on the establishment
of a defense commission in April 2003. The Seventh Sino-Australian Defense
Strategic Consultation was held in October of the same year. The two militaries
of China and Germany held their second round of strategic consultation
in July 2004. China has also held fruitful security consultations and
dialogues respectively with Canada, Mexico, Italy, Poland, New Zealand
and other countries.
China attaches importance to security consultations with its neighboring
countries. China and Pakistan held their second defense and security consultation
in July 2003. The defense ministries of China and Thailand held their
second defense security consultation in September of the same year. The
Chinese Ministry of National Defense and Japanese Defense Agency held
their fourth and fifth security consultations respectively in January
and October 2004. In April this year, China and Mongolia held their first
defense and security consultation. In September, the Chinese Ministry
of National Defense held the second strategic consultations respectively
with its counterparts of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. In October this year,
China and Australia held their eighth Defense Strategic Dialogue, and
the Chinese Ministry of National Defense held the third security consultation
with its Thailand counterpart.
Regional Security Cooperation
China pursues a foreign policy of building a good-neighbor relationship
and partnership with its neighbors, trying to create an amicable, secure
and prosperous neighborhood, and vigorously pushing forward the building
of a security dialogue and cooperation mechanism in the Asia-Pacific region.
Since its establishment more than three years ago, the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) has been evolving into an important mechanism for promoting
regional security, stability and development. It has set up a relatively
complete organizational structure and laid a sound legal basis, and successfully
initiated cooperation in security, economic and other fields. The Shanghai
Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism and the Agreement
of State Parties of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on the Regional
Counter-terrorism Agency took effect in 2003. In pursuance of the convention
and agreement, the SCO held meetings of chief procurators and ministers
of defense, and conducted joint counter-terrorism military exercises.
The SCO Secretariat and regional counter-terrorism agency were formally
inaugurated in Beijing and Tashkent in January 2004. The Tashkent Summit
Meeting of the SCO signed the Tashkent Declaration and the Agreement on
Cooperation in Combating Illegal Turnover of Narcotic and Psychotropic
Substances and the Precursors Thereof in June 2004. The SCO also set up
the mechanism of regular meetings between security committee secretaries
of its member states to strengthen security and cooperation.
China attaches great importance to the role of the ASEAN Regional Forum
(ARF), and is devoted to its sound development. At the 11th ARF Foreign
Ministers' Meeting in 2004, China proposed the following initiatives for
the future development of ARF: to maintain its forum nature and adhere
to the basic principles of decision-making through consensus, taking an
incremental approach, and moving at a pace comfortable to all members
so as to encourage the initiative and active participation of all members;
to continuously strengthen and consolidate confidence-building measures
(CBMs) while actively addressing the issue of preventive diplomacy, so
as to gradually find out cooperative methods and approaches for preventive
diplomacy that are suitable to the region and fitting the current needs;
to increase participation of defense officials, promote exchanges and
cooperation among militaries of the countries concerned and give full
play to the important role of the militaries in enhancing mutual trust;
to highlight cooperation in non-traditional security fields such as counter-terrorism
and combating transnational crimes. As its co-chairmen, China and Myanmar
hosted two intersessions in Beijing and Rangoon respectively on CBMs for
the 2003-2004 Forum. China hosted the ARF Workshop on Drug-Substitute
Alternative Development in September 2004 in Kunming, Yunnan Province,
and the ARF Conference on Security Policies in November 2004.
In October 2003, the leaders of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea
held their fifth meeting, and issued the Joint Declaration on the Promotion
of Tripartite Cooperation Among the People's Republic of China, Japan
and the Republic of Korea, which confirmed that the three countries would
work together to intensify security dialogues and extend exchanges among
defense and military officials in East Asia, and strengthen cooperation
in the fields of disarmament and non-proliferation, and the realization
of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.
Cooperation in Non-Traditional Security Fields
China attaches great importance to security cooperation in the non-traditional
security fields with other countries, maintaining that in jointly combating
non-traditional security threats, it is imperative to address both the
symptoms and root causes and to adopt comprehensive measures.
Cooperation in non-traditional security fields within the frameworks
of ASEAN and China (10 + 1) and ASEAN and China, Japan and the Republic
of Korea (10 + 3) has developed gradually in recent years. In November
2002, leaders of China and ASEAN signed the Joint Declaration Between
China and ASEAN on Cooperation in Non-Traditional Security Fields. In
April 2003, leaders of China and ASEAN held a special meeting in Bangkok,
Thailand, on SARS and issued a joint declaration. In January 2004, the
two sides signed the Memorandum of Understanding Between China and ASEAN
on Cooperation in Non-Traditional Security Fields. China initiated and
participated in the first ministerial meeting between ASEAN and China,
Japan and the Republic of Korea on combating transnational crimes, held
in Bangkok, Thailand, in January 2004, and submitted a concept paper.
The meeting agreed to set up a cooperation mechanism between ASEAN and
China, Japan and the Republic of Korea for combating transnational crimes,
and adopted the first Joint Communiqué of the ASEAN Plus Three
Ministerial Meeting on Combating Transnational Crimes.
China continued to strengthen its international counter-terrorism cooperation.
It supported the UN, particularly the Security Council in playing a leading
role in this regard, and seriously implemented Security Council resolutions
on counter-terrorism issues, as was shown by its reports to the Council
on the implementation of Resolution No. 1373. It has actively supported
and participated in the drafting of the Comprehensive Convention on International
Terrorism and the International Convention on the Suppression of Nuclear
Terrorism. In January 2003, China put forward four proposals on deepening
international counter-terrorism cooperation at the foreign ministers'
meeting of the UN Security Council on counter-terrorism. China also conducted
exchanges and cooperation with Russia, the United States, Pakistan, India,
the United Kingdom, France and Germany in this regard.
The PLA has taken an active part in cooperation in non-traditional security
fields such as joint counter-terrorism, maritime search and rescue, combating
piracy, and cracking down on drug production and trafficking. The ministers
of defense of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan signed
the Memorandum of the Ministries of National Defense of the SCO Member
Countries on Holding the "Joint-2003" Counter-terrorism Exercise
in May 2003. The armed forces of the five countries successfully conducted
the first multilateral counter-terrorism exercise in the vicinities of
Ucharal in Kazakhstan and Yining in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous
Region within the framework of the SCO in August 2003. The armed forces
of China and Pakistan conducted Friendship-2004, a joint counter-terrorism
exercise, in the border area between the two countries in August 2004.
The Chinese navy conducted joint maritime search-and-rescue exercises
off the Chinese coast with visiting Pakistani navy in October and Indian
navy in November 2003. It also held joint maritime search-and-rescue exercises
with French navy in March, British navy in June, and Australian navy in
October in 2004 in the Yellow Sea area.
Participating in UN Peacekeeping Operations
China has consistently supported and actively participated in the peacekeeping
operations that are consistent with the spirit of the UN Charter. It maintains
that the UN peacekeeping operations should abide by the purposes and principles
of the UN Charter and other universally recognized principles governing
peacekeeping operations. China will continue to support the reform of
the UN peacekeeping missions, hoping to further strengthen the UN capability
in preserving peace.
Since its first dispatch of military observers to the UN peacekeeping
operations in 1990, China has sent 3,362 military personnel to 13 UN peacekeeping
operations, including 785 military observers, 800 (in two batches) engineering
personnel to Cambodia, 654 (in three batches) engineering and medical
personnel to Congo (Kinshasa), 1,116 personnel in transportation, engineering
and medical units to Liberia, and seven staff officers to the UN Department
of Peacekeeping Operations. Since January 2000, China has sent 404 policemen
to the peacekeeping operations in six UN peacekeeping task areas including
East Timor. In 2004, China has sent 59 policemen to East Timor, Liberia,
Afghanistan, Kosovo of Serbia-Herzegovina and Haiti, and a 125-member
organic police detachment to Haiti to serve with MINUSTAH at the request
of the UN. In the past 14 years, six Chinese servicemen lost their lives
and dozens wounded in UN peacekeeping operations.
At present, 845 PLA personnel are working in eight UN peacekeeping task
areas. They included 66 military observers, an engineering unit of 175
personnel and a medical unit of 43 personnel in Congo (Kinshasa), an engineering
unit of 275 personnel, a transportation unit of 240 personnel and a medical
unit of 43 personnel in Liberia, and three staff officers at the UN Department
of Peacekeeping Operations.
Military Exchanges
The PLA conducts active military exchanges and cooperation with militaries
of other countries, and has created a military diplomacy that is all-directional,
multi-tiered and wide-ranging.
China has established military relations with more than 150 countries
in the world. It has set up over 100 military attaché's offices
in its embassies abroad, and 85 countries have set up military attaché's
offices in China. Over the past two years, the PLA has sent high-level
military delegations to over 60 countries, and played host to over 130
delegations of military leaders from over 70 countries. The military-to-military
relations between China and Russia continued to strengthen and develop.
The Chinese Minister of National Defense visited the United States in
October 2003, the first such visit in seven years. The Director General
of the Japanese Defense Agency visited China in May 2003, after an interval
of five years. The Indian and Chinese ministers of defense exchanged visits
in April 2003 and March 2004 respectively, the first of its kind in many
years. Meanwhile, military exchanges between China and European countries
developed in depth. China also strengthened military relations with its
surrounding countries, extended military exchanges with other developing
countries, and continued to provide militaries of some countries such
assistance as personnel training, equipment, logistical materials and
medical treatment.
In October 2003, the PLA invited for the first time military observers
from 15 countries to observe the joint exercise Northern Sword-0308U organized
by the Beijing Military Area Command. In September 2004, it invited observers
from foreign militaries to watch Exercise Dragon-2004 organized by the
Chinese navy. In the same month, military leaders or observers from 16
neighboring countries and their military attachés stationed in
China were invited to observe Exercise Iron Fist-2004 organized by the
Jinan Military Area Command. In June 2004, China invited foreign naval
attachés from 15 foreign embassies in China to observe a Sino-British
joint maritime search-and-rescue exercise. Besides, the PLA sent delegations
to observe military exercises in Russia and Japan, as well as joint military
exercise by the United States, Thailand and Singapore. From October to
November 2003, Chinese naval ships paid friendly visits to the US territory
of Guam, Brunei and Singapore. Meanwhile, naval ships from the United
Kingdom, Russia, the United States, Pakistan, India, France, Indonesia
and other countries visited China. The PLA pursued active military academic
exchanges with foreign militaries. The PLA Academy of Military Science
and other Chinese research institutions had extensive academic exchanges
with scientific research institutions of other countries. The PLA increased
the number of military students sent abroad and received more overseas
military students in China. In recent years, it has sent over 1,000 military
students to more than 20 countries, and 19 military colleges and universities
in China have established inter-collegiate exchange relations with their
counterparts in 25 countries, including the United States and Russia.
Over the past two years, 1,245 military personnel from 91 countries have
come to study in Chinese military colleges and universities, and officers
from 44 of these countries have participated in the fifth and sixth International
Symposium Course hosted by the PLA National Defense University.
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