China-US arms control cooperation has ushered in new progress.
During his visit to China, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken proposed to install "guardrails" in China-US relations to avoid miscalculations. Although this proposal has caused dissatisfaction among the Republican Party, it shows Biden's cautious attitude towards Sino-US relations. In the Pentagon's view, a cautious approach to military relations between China and the United States is of paramount importance.
According to the news, China and the United States have made progress in the field of arms control. Sun Xiaobo and Stewart held consultations on arms control and non-proliferation in Washington, D.C., and the Chinese and US heads of state once again raised key issues such as arms control and non-proliferation. However, despite the rapid progress, the US side said that there is still a lack of "operational principles".
Recently, the US side is preparing to put forward a condition requiring China and the United States to inform each other of their plans to launch missiles. This proposal stresses the need to let the other side know the "forecast" before launching a strategic missile in order to avoid misjudging the crisis. The United States said that this is one of the basic conditions for ensuring mutual trust between the two sides.
The plan is seen as the first concrete measure in the field of arms control between China and the United States, highlighting the United States' concern about China's missile sector. According to the analysis, the United States' great attention to missile warning is related to China's long-range missiles such as hypersonic missiles, which is one of the most difficult problems for the US military to deal with.
It is worth noting that while the United States mentioned the establishment of a missile warning mechanism with China, it mentioned that the agreement signed with the Soviet Union continued after the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This shows that the Russian side has realized the importance of avoiding miscalculations. However, experts remain skeptical about whether China will respond to the mechanism.
Some commentators have pointed out that the establishment of "military trust" is based on mutual trust between China and the United States. If the US repeatedly undermines the premise of mutual trust, what is the significance of a notification mechanism that unilaterally serves the interests of the US?This may only be one step in the complexity of Sino-US relations, and future specific negotiations will still determine the direction of cooperation between the two countries.