General Zheng Shenxia
President, China Association for Military Science

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

　　Xiangshan is one of Beijing's best-known scenic spots. The Biyun Temple in Xiangshan holds the eternity box of Sun Yat-sen, who is a pioneer of Chinese democratic revolution. We have chosen Xiangshan for this forum, because we want to show our willingness to improve communication and cooperation between China Association for Military Science and defense think tanks of the world, and to join hands together to promote peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

　　Recently, China has been attracting more and more international attention. There are diverse views on China's orientation. For example, some in the US take China as a "stakeholder"; while others expect a showdown between the "Oriental Dragon" and the "American Eagle". It is understandable that the rise of a country will cause some external suspicions. According to an old way of thinking, the rise of a power is usually accompanied by war and violence. But that old logic will not apply to contemporary China. China has taken a road of peaceful development, and has committed itself to building a harmonious world. By peaceful development, China means to incorporate its fundamental interests into the world's common interests and to actively promote world prosperity and harmony, when it tries to achieve its own prosperity and advancements. Specifically, China endeavors to preserve world peace and boost world harmony when it strives for a favorable environment for its own development. China persists in mutual benefits and collective development when it pursues its own prosperity. China advocates the establishment of a democratic and impartial world order when it merges itself into the world and abides by the established international norms. China does not seek sphere of influence or regional hegemony, when it assumes its international responsibility. China respects the diversity of the world and supports a harmonious coexistence of all civilizations when it reserves its own characteristics during the process of development. China does not impair the interests of other countries and handles differences and disputes according to the principle of equality and mutual benefit, when it protects its legitimate rights and interests in international competition. All I have said above, is by no means "propagandistic strategies of hiding capabilities while biding for the time"; instead, it is China's road of future development, as well as China's solemn pledge to the 21st-century international community. The world is and will continue to witness this: China's development and growth will bring to the international community more benefits rather than losses and more stability and harmony rather than threats and conflicts.

　　China cannot develop peacefully without a favorable environment. The Asia-Pacific region is home to all of us in this area. As a former pilot and PLA general, I sincerely hope that the sky above us abounds with air liners carrying businessmen, financiers and tourists, instead of combat aircraft loaded with missiles, bombs or explosives for terrorist attacks. To build such a peaceful Asia-Pacific region, in conformity to the time and tide of economic globalization, we should cultivate a new security concept with the following three elements: common security, cooperation security and development security. Among the three elements, common security is the objective. It acknowledges that the security of all countries is closely related so that we should not only safeguard our own national security, but also respect others' security right. Cooperation security is the approach. It advocates international exchange and cooperation in order to reduce threats and control crises. Development security is the foundation. It promotes prosperity in every country so as to provide the economic basis for common security. Generally speaking, we seek mutual and all winning benefits, which, I think, can be achieved by the following five measures:

　　1. Increasing strategic mutual trust between the countries

　　The prerequisite for a harmonious Asia-Pacific region is mutual trust among the countries, especially among major players. China and Russia have succeeded in solving their border disputes. Their strategic cooperative partnership matures in the areas of anti-terrorism, energy, trade, labor service and international affairs, from which both countries have benefited a lot. China and India are both great burgeoning economies. It is imperative and possible for both the dragon and the elephant to "dance together". Although it is unavoidable that there are differences between China and the United States, the more important fact is that they have increasing common interests. In accordance with the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, we should seek common ground while reserving differences, try to decrease frictions, to develop a pragmatic and cooperative relationship of equality and mutual benefits. That is beneficial to both countries.

　　We were very pleased that this month, the top leaders of China and Japan held the first talk in 5 years, opening the door towards better political relationship. At the same time we should be aware that more efforts must be made to transform the Sino-Japanese relation of "cold politics and warm economy" into "warm politics and economy", and to realize peaceful coexistence, amity for generations, cooperation, mutual benefits, and common development. As we know, in Europe, France and Germany rose up hand in hand after the WWII, in the same vein, in Asia, China and Japan can rise up together, blossoming side-by-side into "two beautiful flowers". The key to this bright prospect is to view Sino-Japan relationship from a long-term perspective, based on an interdependent and win-win perception, instead of the outdated thinking that "Japan should secede from Asia and join Europe", or "One mountain can only accommodate one tiger", which was shaped since the "Meji Reform". If rightist thinking in domestic politics was encouraged in the name of "democracy", the prospect for a lasting peace in Asia-pacific would be shadowed. One major historical lesson Germany and Japan have both learned from the two world wars is that extremist nationalism had provided a hotbed for fascism. We are opposed to Japanese leaders' visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, not purely out of national sentiments, nor exploiting the historical issues to suppress Japan's international position, but mostly out of the concern about the peace cause in the region. The WWII war criminals are definitely not "martyrs sacrificing for the country". Through self examination, a country will not self dwarf itself, to the contrary it might lift itself to sublimation. We hope that the new administration will be able to win respect and trust from the Asian neighbors, just like the German administrations did after WWII.

　　2. Joining hands to keep peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits

　　For this purpose, the peace forces across the Straits and the international community have made strenuous efforts for many years. Since President Hu Jin-tao's "Four Suggestions" and the first "Hu-Lian Meeting", the cross-Straits situation has eased up. However, the secessionist activities by pro-independence forces on the island are increasingly intensifying. Recently, getting bogged down by the campaign to oust him, Chen Shui-bian took the stirring up of tensions across the Straits as a lifesaving straw，brazenly declared to push forward the "constitutional reform" process to touch on sovereignty issues, which includes territorial definition, impacting and challenging the bottom line of the Mainland. If such a gamble succeeded, it would be a very dangerous step toward "de jure independence". Facts have proved again that the Taiwan issue is not only a struggle between secessionism and anti-secessionism, but also a struggle between maintaining peace and challenging peace. To prevent the separatist forces on the island from pursuing "de jure independence" is the greatest common interests for the peace forces across the Straits and the international community. We will firmly implement Hu Jin-tao's "Four Suggestions", and take "preventing secessionism" and "curbing secessionism" as the most important, most realistic and most urgent strategic tasks for the present time. We will continue to bend ourselves to the maintenance of the stability across the Straits. Once Taiwan authority accepts the "Consensus of 1992", and acknowledges that people across the Straits belong to the same nation-state, i.e., one China, the two sides can sit down and discuss Taiwan's international sphere and the military confidence building across the Straits. Our departure point is the common welfare of the people across the Straits, and what we preserve is the regional peace and stability. "The trees want to remain still while the wind keeps blowing." Faithlessness is Chen Shui-bian's nature as a politician, therefore, the Mainland is obliged to make military preparations, in order to deal with any malignant emergencies. If we were not prepared, the diehard pro-independence forces would have their fling and regional peace would be doomed.

　　3. Striving for a peaceful solution of the nuclear issue through dialogue

　　On the DPRK and Iran nuclear issues, China has all the time promoted peace through dialogue, seeking a political solution through consultations and compromises. In September 2005, the Six Party Talks released a Joint Statement, opening an avenue to a political solution of the Korean nuclear issue. However, on October 9, the DPRK brazenly conducted an underground nuclear test. People around the world were all shocked at the news. No matter for what reasons and in what name, this action is totally unacceptable. As a friendly neighbor of the DPRK, China insists on the "Three No's Principle": "No Nuke, No War, No Turbulence". It still considers Six-Party Talks as the most effective way to resolve the issue. "No Nuke" means that the principle of denuclearization on the Peninsular must not be abandoned, and DPRK should not possess nuclear weapons. "No War" means that the United States and Japan should not resort to force. "No Turbulence" means that outside forces should not intentionally create chaos in the DPRK, threatening the stability of the neighboring countries. Only by implementing this principle, can the common interests of all parties concerned, including the DPRK, be served. North Korea has the right to safeguard its national security, but it must do so without nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons cannot bring security to the country, instead, the outcome will just be the opposite. The only wise choice for Pyongyang is to give up nuclear weapons and return to the Six-Party Talks. Other parties should continue to work together and seek a political solution.

　　4. Promoting regional security cooperation

　　Recent years have witnessed robust security exchanges and cooperation among Asia-Pacific countries. New organizations, mechanisms and approaches are emerging. China alone has established and developed multi-area, multi-level, and multi-form dialogues and cooperation with countries or organizations like the United States, Russia, ASEAN, ROK, Japan, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizistan, Australia, etc. For instance, China helped establish the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, participated in the ASEAN Regional Forum, and set up the summit and strategic level consultative mechanisms with several countries. In an attempt to push forward the regional security cooperation, I think, there should be four requirements. The first is explicit in objective. That objective is to maintain regional peace and stability and enhance common security. The second is equal rights, which means that the cooperative organizations should not be controlled by one single country, demanding other countries submit to the strategic interests of that country. The third is openness, which means that no organization should be exclusive, nor against any other country. The fourth is comprehensive cooperation in both traditional and non-traditional security areas.

　　To promote regional security cooperation, it is necessary to enhance military confidence among the countries. As to the so-called "China military threat", I want to make four brief points. Firstly, national defense modernization is to provide security for China's peaceful development. To meet the challenges we are facing in our security environment, we have to improve our self-defense capabilities. One purpose for China to improve national defense is to have more capabilities to assume international humanitarian missions like peace-keeping, disaster relief, anti-drug trafficking, non-combatant evacuation, and civil police, so that China can shoulder more international responsibilities. Secondly, China will never change the defensive nature of its national defense policy. China will never "sail their warships wherever their commercial interests go", like the colonists in history. Some Chinese corporations are seeking more energy supply channels only to meet the increasing demands. Thirdly, increase in Chinese military expenditure has several reasons. China's military had been for a period of time asked to be patient and concessive. Recent increase in a sense is "compensatory", so as to keep the normal vitality of our national defense development. With an accelerating revolution in military affairs, there is an urgent need to informationalize China's armed forces, which is costly. China as a late developer has many disadvantages. Besides, we are mostly self-dependent, and the cost for modernization is much higher than those who cooperate as allies. Therefore, China has to keep a moderate increase in military expenditure for a certain period of time. Particularly, we have to keep at bay the provocations from the force of "Taiwan Independence". Indeed, if that sum of money can be spent on national economy and the people's livelihood, we are all too happy to do so! Given the recent increase, China's military expenditure remains at a low level in the world. It ought to be pointed out that with different structures of the military expenditure and different calculations, the estimated figures by different countries cannot be the same. For example, part of the maintenance expenses of the US National Guard has not been included into the Federal military expenditure. In addition, Japanese government budget has covered the financial risks of R and D in defense industries, which is not part of defense budget. Therefore, a deliberate exaggeration of China's increase in military expenditure is not conducive to the building of military confidence. Fourthly, when we talk about military transparency, we should be reasonable. It is acknowledged that enhancing military transparency is beneficial to boosting strategic confidence building. China has already taken a series of measures to increase transparency and will continue to do so in the future. Two cases in point are: Rumsfeld's visit to the command center in the Second Artillery headquarters and recent joint exercise by Chinese and American navies. I'd like to point out that military transparency is relative rather than absolute, mutual rather than unilateral. At the technological and tactical levels, every country keeps many things a secret. At least China is transparent at the strategic level. We have an aversion to the fact that some countries blindly demand more from China, while sticking to a Cold-War way of thinking themselves.

　　5. Enhancing regional cooperation in the non-security area

　　International cooperation in non-security areas is a powerful "roll booster" to achieve common security, on which the experience of Europe can be used for reference. In European history there have long been conflicts among big powers, and the two World Wars both broke out there. In 1952, after the WWII, France and Germany built up a "Steel-and-Coal Alliance", thus obtaining a reconciliation in Europe. From then to the European Economic Community to the European Union, the Continent has enjoyed peace and prosperity for more than half a century. Now, in the Asia-Pacific region, there are several regional cooperative organizations in the field of economy and trade, so it is possible to have all kinds of exchanges and cooperation in the fields of energy, environmental protection, finance, information technology, protection of intellectual properties, etc., to boost the process of regional integration. With the development of a mutual-benefit, win-win relationship in the non-security field, I believe, the common tie to preserve regional security will be increasingly expanded and consolidated.

　　Ladies and gentlemen, not only to achieve China's peaceful development, but also to enhance regional peace and stability, we must keep our minds abreast of the times. We must view the future with a new perspective, and consider comprehensively about peace and development in the Asia-Pacific. A world in the time of globalization is no longer governed by jungle law. Nations depend on each other for preserving their interests. The social Darwinist law that "What you've gained is what I've lost" should make its exit, while the ideas of mutual-benefit, win-win "non-zero sum" should be international norms of today.

　　Thank you for offering me an opportunity to express my personal views! Thanks again!