The Construction and Restart of China-U.S. Security Mechanism

Professor Li Wenliang

Director of Post-Graduate Department of University of International Relations

With the intensifying strategic competition between China and the United States, the security relations between China and the United States have evolved from stability to tension and complexity, and even run the risk of getting out of control locally. In this context, it is very important and urgent to restart or reconstruct a new Sino-U.S. security mechanism.

I. The construction of Sino-U.S. security mechanism

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States in the 1970s, with development of the Sino-U.S. relations, the Sino-U.S. security mechanisms are constructed to a certain extent mainly as follows: the defense consultation mechanism between the Ministry of National Defense of PRC and the Department of Defense USA, China-U.S. Strategic Security Dialogue, the China-U.S. High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues, Memorandum of Understanding on Notification of Major Military Activities, and the Memorandum of Understanding Regarding the Rules of Behavior for Safety of Air and Maritime Encounters, China-U.S. Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, etc. It is the existence and effectiveness of these security mechanisms between China and the United States that the incidents such as the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the aircraft collision in the South China Sea are all peacefully resolved and have not brought disastrous consequences to the security relationship between China and the United States in the course of development of the Sino-U.S. security relationship.

The security mechanism between China and the United States is that the "national security issues are not originated, but derived". For example, in the Sino-U.S. political relations, the elevation of the Sino-U.S. political issues to the Sino-U.S. political security issues needs to go through an evolutionary process, i.e., only as the Sino-U.S. political issues pose a threat to their respective national interests, especially their core interests and major interests confired by the Chinese and U.S. governments, will they evolve into the Sino-U.S. political security issues. Similarly, in the Sino-U.S. economic and trade, science and technology and financial relations, there is an evolutionary process from economic and trade issues to become economic and trade security issues, from science and technology issues to become science and technology security issues, and from financial issues to become financial security issues. Therefore, the timing gap between China and the United States as the domain problems evolve into the domain security problems provides the possibility for functioning of the security mechanism between the two countries. With the help of the platform of security mechanism through consultations and negotiations, China and the United States can try to eliminate or reduce the impact of domain issues between the two sides on their national interests, especially the core interests and major interests, interrupt the chain of domain issues evolving into domain security issues, eliminate or weaken the factors threatening the security relations between the two countries, and then maintain the stability of the security relations between them.

II. Difficulties faced by Sino-U.S. security mechanism

After Trump came to power, the U.S. administration regarded China as a "revisionist country" and a "strategic competitor", launched a trade war, a science and technology war, and a financial war against China, and carried out a whole government crackdown, resulting in the stagnation of most of the Sino-U.S. security mechanisms.

The Defense Consultation Mechanism between the Ministry of National Defense of PRC and Department of Defense of the USA was established in 1997, which has become one of the important channels for the defense departments of the two countries to enhance understanding, build mutual trust, and consolidate exchanges and cooperation. However, since the 15th Sino-U.S. Defense consultation was held in Washington on October 16, 2014, the mechanism is not activated any more.

On May 9, 2011, the third round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue was held in Washington. The two sides announced that China-U.S. Strategic Security Dialogue would be launched under the framework of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue. Although in the eighth round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue in June 2016, "the two sides decided to hold the meeting of the China-U.S. Strategic Security Dialogue before January 2017, and hold the next China-U.S. Strategic Security Dialogue on the eve of the next round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue", yet the ninth round of China-U.S. Strategic Security Dialogue was not held in 2017, and there is no sign to start even in 2020. On December 1, 2015, the first China-U.S. High Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Matters was held in Washington. The second and third dialogues were held in Beijing and Washington in June and December 2016 respectively. After Trump came to power, the China-U.S. High Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues was closed. In October 2017, the first round of China-U.S. Law Enforcement and Cyber security Dialogue was held in Washington, D.C., and co-chaired by visiting Chinese State Councilor Guo Shengkun and Minister of Public Security, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Acting Secretary for Homeland Security Elaine Duke. Since then, the dialogue mechanism is shelved. In June 2017, the first round of China-U.S. Diplomatic and Security Dialogue was held in Washington, D.C., co-hosted by State Councilor Yang Jiechi, Secretary of State Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Matiss. After great setbacks, the second round of Diplomatic and Security Dialogue was held in Washington in November 2018. Since then, the door of Sino-U.S. Diplomatic and Security Dialogue is also closed.

At the moment, with the exception of the two mutual trust mechanisms, namely the "Memorandum of Understanding on Notification of Major Military Activities", and the "Memorandum of Understanding Regarding the Rules of Behavior for Safety of Air and Maritime Encounters", almost all other China-U.S. security mechanisms are stagnated and closed. Most China-U.S. security mechanisms are established on the basis of the consensus reached by the two heads of state, such as the China-U.S. Strategic Security Dialogue was built on the basis of the consensus reached by President Hu Jintao and President Obama in 2009 to establish China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue. The setting up between China and the United States of a High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Matters is to implement the results of the meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Obama in 2015. The China-U.S. Dialogue on Law Enforcement and Cyber Security and China-U.S. Diplomatic Security Dialogue are the outcome of the meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Trump in 2017 at the Mar-a-Lago.

The stagnation and closure of the security mechanisms between China and the United States have led to the loss of the mechanism platform for exchange, cooperation and coordination between the two countries, and the failure to resolve the factors that threaten the national interests, especially the core interests and major interests of China and the United States in a timely and effective manner. This may aggravate the differences, misunderstandings, suspicions and fears between the two sides, and make the general problems evolve into security problems and domain problems into domain security problems, and China-U.S. security relations more complicated.

III. Some ideas on restarting the security mechanisms between China and the United States

In order to stabilize the security relations between China and the United States, especially to prevent it from slipping into the danger of losing control, it is an unavoidable and necessary for the two governments to restart or build a new security mechanism and strengthen security dialogue between China and the United States. China should do something to restart the China-U.S. security mechanism, and mainly to avoid the following two "misunderstandings".

One view is that the United States regards China as the biggest threat to the United States, which is nothing but a deliberate attempt to stigmatize China. Therefore, opening up the security mechanism between China and the United States and dialogue with the United States will be a waste of breath and ask a tiger for its skin, will only dance with the pace of the United States and will become passive strategically. There are obvious defects in this view. National security (problem) is not only an objective existence, but also the result of subjective feeling, and even an organic unity of objectivity and subjectivity. This is the internal logic of national security. Therefore, the United States regards China as the biggest threat. Even if it is a subjective assumption out of thin air, it also has its inherent cognitive logic, which is also a kind of security concept and cognition. We must recognize this fact and deal with it effectively. Otherwise, we will ignore the objectivity and subjectivity of national security, make a serious mistake and miss a good opportunity in the process of Sino-U.S. security game-play. Therefore, China must take the initiative and play an active role in the process of restarting the security mechanism between China and the United States, and use this mechanism to show the United States China's peace-loving history, will and facts, to dispel the U.S. sense of insecurity and subjective errors in security cognition, to help to construct the U.S. awareness and concept of China, eliminate misunderstanding, and to lay a policy foundation for stabilizing the security relations between China and the United States.

Another view is that China's biggest task at the moment is development, and it doesn't matter whether to restart the China-U.S. security mechanism or not. This view separates the relationship between security and development, which is a wrong understanding. In fact, General Secretary Xi Jinping has expounded the dialectical relationship between development and security in the overall national security concept scientifically, completely and accurately. In 2014, he clearly points out at the first meeting of the National Security Commission that "development is the foundation of security, and security is the condition for development". In December 2015, at the opening ceremony of the World Internet Conference, he once again stresses that security is the guarantee for development, and development is the purpose of security. In April 2016, having stood in the forefront of the profound changes unseen in a century, and accurately judged the security situation at home and abroad, General Secretary Xi Jinping has concluded that "China's dream of achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, ensuring people's safety and living, and national security is a top priority", emphasizing the importance of national security to China's greatest development -- the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Thus，it can be seen that the view of separating the dialectical relationship between security and development is not only unfavorable to the restart of the security mechanism between China and the United States, but also harmful to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the greatest development of China. Restarting the security mechanism between China and the United States, enhancing mutual trust, expanding consensus, promoting cooperation, and controlling differences are the needs to improve the Sino-U.S. relations and prevent Sino-U.S. security relations from slipping into the danger of losing control locally, as well as the needs to the great cause of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and maintenance of world peace and stability.

In a word, China should avoid the above two "misunderstandings", act actively, take the initiative, and adopt effective measures to create conditions and possibilities for restarting or reconstructing the security mechanism between China and the United States.