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China's Military Diplomacy
In 2005, China's military diplomacy rendered an effective support to its overall diplomatic campaign, showing to the world an increasingly open Chinese military.
Principal leaders of the Chinese military visited nearly 30 countries, including the world's big powers, developed European countries, important neighboring countries and African countries. More than 50 high-level delegations headed by foreign defense ministers and chiefs of general staffs visited China. On October 18-20, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld paid his first visit to China after taking office in January 2001. He met President Hu Jintao, who is also Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Guo Boxiong, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Cao Gangchuan, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission and Defense Minster, respectively. Besides the Academy of Military Sciences, Rumsfeld also visited China's Second Artillery Force, making him the first foreign visitor to China's strategic missile headquarters since its inception in 1966. The high-level military exchanges have enriched China's foreign relations, laid a solid groundwork for cooperation with other countries in military security and given a comprehensive impetus to military relations between China and the world's big powers, neighboring countries and developing countries.
In addition, China conducted strategic consultation and defense dialogue with some 20 countries including the United States, Russia and the Philippines. It was also represented in the Security Policy Conference of the Second ASEAN Regional Forum. Their cooperation in defense has gained steady ground.
The year 2005 witnessed a large number of military exercises. China and Russia successfully conducted a joint military drill, code-named "Peace Mission 2005," in Russia's Vladivostok and China's Shandong Peninsula and nearby offshore waters on August 18-25. The war game, which was divided into three phases, namely strategic consultation, campaign planning and actual warfare, involved nearly 10,000 personnel from the army, navy, air force, airborne units, marine corps and logistic units of the two countries. Apart from the China-Russia joint military exercises, the Chinese navy held joint exercises in the non-traditional security field, focusing on marine search and rescue, with the navies of Pakistan, India and Thailand. On September 27, some 40 military observers and military attachés from 24 neighboring countries and leading Western countries watched the "North Sword-2005" military exercise staged by the Beijing Military Command. The drill is the largest military exercise open to foreigners with observers from the greatest number of countries invited since the People's Republic was founded in 1949. Various military drills have broadened the channel for cooperation between Chinese and foreign armed forces, deepened bilateral military relations and helped the Chinese military adapt from warfare experiences of their foreign counterparts and improve the combat tactics of their personnel.
The sudden tsunami in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004 caused the deaths of more than 100,000 people and made more than 1 million homeless. In face of this grave disaster, the Chinese Government launched its largest ever foreign aid program. The Chinese military jumpstarted the emergency military aid mechanism and undertook the responsibility for preparing disaster-relief materials to be sent to disaster-stricken countries. According to statistics from the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of National Defense, the Chinese military provided tsunami-affected countries with funds and materials worth over 100 million yuan by the end of December 2005. It also offered $1 million in cash and materials worth 150 million yuan to help earthquake-ravaged areas in Pakistan. China also played an active role in international arms control inspections and international mine clearance. It sent its first group of experts to the Asia-Pacific region to offer humanitarian aid in landmine clearance in 2005. It also trained more than 30 landmine clearance specialists for Thailand. These concrete actions exemplify China's solemn commitment to the international community.
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