Chapter IX International Security Cooperation     

    Adhering to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, China persists in developing friendly relations and strengthening cooperation with other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, and devotes itself to promoting international security dialogues and cooperation of all forms.

    Strategic Consultation and Dialogue

    In recent years, China has intensified bilateral and multilateral strategic consultation and dialogues with countries concerned in security and defense fields which contribute to better mutual trust and mutual exchange and cooperation.

    With the strengthening of the strategic and cooperative partnership between China and Russia, the two countries have established a senior-level meeting mechanism to exchange views on major issues. They have also held consultations on major strategicissues between relevant departments. In 2003, China and Russia conducted a number of vice-foreign-ministerial level consultationson the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, the questions of Iraq and the Middle East, and other international, regional and bilateral issues of common concern. In 2004, the two countries held a counter-terrorism working group meeting and consultation onstrategic stability at the vice-foreign-ministerial level. The twomilitaries established a consultation mechanism in 1997, and the General Staff headquarters of the two militaries held the seventh and eighth rounds of strategic consultations in 2003 and 2004 respectively.

    China and the United States maintain consultations on non-proliferation, counter-terrorism, and bilateral military security cooperation. In the past two years, the two countries held three rounds of consultations at the vice-foreign-ministerial level on strategic security, multilateral arms control and non-proliferation, the sixth Defense Consultative Talk, the third and fourth counter-terrorism consultations, and the second financial counter-terrorism consultation. The military maritime and air safety working groups under the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement held the third and fourth meetings in Hawaii and Shanghai respectively.

    China has conducted extensive strategic consultations and dialogues with other countries. China and France established the relationship of strategic dialogue in 1997, and have since held six rounds of such consultation. China and the United Kingdom heldtwo rounds of strategic security dialogue in October 2003 and March 2004 respectively, and established the Sino-British strategic security dialogue mechanism. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense and its South African counterpart signed an agreement on the establishment of a defense commission in April 2003. The Seventh Sino-Australian Defense Strategic Consultation was held in October of the same year. The two militaries of China and Germany held their second round of strategic consultation in July 2004. China has also held fruitful security consultations anddialogues respectively with Canada, Mexico, Italy, Poland, New Zealand and other countries.