A mission that is possible (2)

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To make things more complicated, the same term may have different meanings for the two militaries. For example, freedom of navigation is acknowledged by both China and the US according to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, but the Chinese believe that military activities cannot be simply categorized as freedom of navigation and cannot infringe on a coastal state's national security interests, while the US maintains that military activities and overflights and other internationally lawful uses of the sea fall within the freedoms of navigation.

　　Promoting cooperation in traditional security areas is challenging, since it requires greater trust. Still, it can be done. In 1998 China and the US signed an agreement not to target their nuclear weapons at each other. Could they go a step further to sign a non-first-use agreement, such as the one between China and Russia?

　　Over the years, Beijing has asked the US to stop selling arms to Taiwan and the US has called on Beijing to withdraw short-range missiles aimed at Taiwan. Now that cross-Straits relations have improved, perhaps it is time for the US to promise not to sell arms to Taiwan and Beijing to agree to withdraw the missiles. Could the US lift the restrictions in the Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 and the Delay Amendment that restricts the US military's exchanges with People's Liberation Army?

　　Meanwhile bilateral and multilateral exercises should continue. Last year saw the two militaries engage in bilateral counter-piracy exercises in the Gulf of Aden and a joint tabletop exercise in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in Chengdu. In April, a Chinese military spokesman announced that in 2013, the two militaries will conduct a joint disaster relief exercise and another counter-piracy naval exercise in the Gulf of Aden. China has also accepted the invitation from the US to attend next year's Rim of the Pacific Exercise, the world's largest international naval exercise, which will take place in the waters off Hawaii. China and the US also participate in regional platforms such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum and the Asian Defence Ministers Meeting-Plus, which brings together the defense ministers from the members of ASEAN, plus the US, China, Russia, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

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