The PLA at Home and Abroad - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

mitments Beijing has already made and to some extent
implemented. It should do so by building on the
progress already made in the relationship between the
two defense establishments. Despite all the problems
that have occurred over the past 30 years, the groundwork
has been laid. It may not be too stable, but the
foundation exists and there has been recent promising
progress. 78 The telephone link established in March
2008 has been used three times, the first round of a
nuclear dialogue took place in April 2008, Defense
Policy Coordination Talks (DPCT) have been restored,
with the February 2009 meetings focused on regional
and global security issues and possible areas of cooperation
between the two militaries. This revitalized
engagement strategy must build on the ground work
completed and the elements of cooperation already
recognized by Beijing as necessary to defuse the widespread
apprehension over the strategic objectives of
China’s defense modernization programs.
Most importantly, the United States should make
eminently clear that it has no intention of restraining
the expansion of China’s influence regionally or
globally. Rather, that the United States will willingly
accept and cooperate with a China dedicated to reinforcing
and building regional and global architectures
ensuring the peaceful settlements of international disputes.
The United States must emphasize, however,
that cooperation between Chinese and American defense
establishments is not the ultimate purpose of
U.S. policy. The United States should make quite clear
it is not the objective of U.S. strategy to have China
and the United States jointly dominate the Asia-Pacific
region. The United States objective should be to
join with China in constructing a multilateral security
architecture where any government desiring to participate
will be accepted.
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