Forthcoming visit of US defence secretary will help increase transparency and enhance strategic mutual trust US Defence Secretary Robert Gates is scheduled to visit China starting on Sunday (tomorrow) at the invitation of State Councillor and Defence Minister Liang Guanglie. The visit symbolises the normalisation of the interrupted high-level military exchanges, and will help promote good interaction and broader relations between China and the US. It will also pave the way for President Hu Jintaos visit to the US due to start on Jan 19. Military ties have always been the most sensitive weathervane of relations between the two countries and Sino-US military ties have gone beyond the military scope and been endowed with a highly political responsibility. In the past decades since normalisation of diplomatic ties between China and the US, military needs, for a long time, played an important role in driving the development of bilateral ties, in addition to their unified front against the perceived military threat from the then Soviet Union. However, the disappearance of the Soviet threat quickly put military ties between Beijing and Washington in a particularly vulnerable position and ever since bilateral military ties have been affected from time to time by their political relations. Currently, Sino-US relations remain generally stable and bilateral cooperation remains smooth on a range of important global and regional issues, as common interests override disagreements on some issues. However, security and military exchanges have long lagged behind exchanges in other fields. Lack of mutual trust has proven to be the biggest obstacle to good Sino-US military ties. Despite their efforts to avoid direct conflicts, the military forces of both countries seem to look upon the other as the largest potential threat. The risk of military conflicts between China and the US over the Taiwan question has subsided in recent years, but the root cause for such Sino-US clashes has not been completely eradicated. Chinas development is viewed by the US as a potential challenge to its dominant role in the Asia-Pacific region and many Chinese view Washingtons shift of military focus from the Atlantic to the Pacific and strengthening of military alliances with Asian allies as Washingtons strategic attempts to contain China. Under these circumstances, military ties between the two countries have become a zero-sum game in the absence of mutual political trust. To promote good military interactions, China and the US should discard their rivalry, set up a more open communication mechanism and try to improve their military transparency. It is Chinas consistent stance that it adheres to a defensive military strategy. The US should realise that any forms of blockades, sanctions and containment will only push bilateral military ties in the wrong direction. China has no intention of challenging the US core interests or pursuing a regional or global hegemony even after it becomes more powerful. Chinas economic development and its military buildup will unavoidably expand the scope of its military activities, increasing the possibility of accidental military conflicts with the US. Under these circumstances, the two countries should strictly abide by international navigation and flying rules and try to prevent any provocative actions. For the US part, it should refrain from arms sales to Taiwan to prevent the most sensitive issue from negatively affecting its ties with China and sabotaging the political foundation of bilateral strategic military communication. China has made efforts to improve its military transparency over recent years. The country regularly publishes its national defence white paper and has opened its Ministry of Defence website to the outside. It has also granted foreign military personnel access to many of its new military facilities. The greater transparency and openness of Chinas military should help reduce outside misgivings. China Daily