The United States and China in Power Transition - Strategic Studies ...

The United States has decades of experience with
international officers/students in U.S. military schools.
There are plenty of positive aspects to this program.
U.S. officers develop long-term relations with their
international counterparts that can go a long way to
help strengthen U.S. military relations with those foreign
nations. They benefit from the international students’
perspectives in their day-to-day contacts. The
international fellows in turn receive valuable professional
military education in the United States that is
mostly not available in their own countries. Moreover,
the international students also learn about democratic
values and principles. Many of them bring their
learning home and use it to improve their countries’
political and military conduct. All in all, having the
international students in the U.S. military schools has
been a valuable investment. It also pays valuable dividendz
at crucial times. As a former U.S. Army War
College Commandant Major General (retired) Robert
Scales remarks, the professional conduct exercised
by the Egyptian military during Egypt’s recent political
change was a great example of foreign militaries
learning from their U.S. counterparts in handling
civil-military relations. Many of the senior Egyptian
military officers in charge have been to U.S. military
schools. 239
Chinese military schools have international officers
as well. According to China’s National Defense White
Papers, China receives foreign military students/officers
from more than 130 countries in the world.
The PLA also sends hundreds of its bright officers to
military schools in other countries, some of which are
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members
and U.S. close allies such as the UK, Japan, and South
Korea. It is time Chinese military schools accept resident
students from the U.S. military.
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