From June 8 to 12, 2009, EWI President and CEO John Edwin Mroz led an American delegation to Beijing for EWI’s third U.S.-China High Level Security Dialogue, an annual event co-sponsored by the China Institute of International Studies. The delegation met with CIIS leaders, senior Chinese officials and major policy organizations. Delegates included:

• Thomas Pickering, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs
• Retired General T. Michael “Buzz” Moseley, EWI Distinguished Fellow and former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force
• Tom Ridge, former Secretary for Homeland Security
• Bob Campbell, Vice Chairman and U.S. State Government Leader for Deloitte LLP
• David Kilcullen, EWI Senior Fellow
• Joel Cowan, member of the EWI Board of Directors
• C.S. Kiang, Chairman of the Peking University Environment Fund
• Jonathan Pollack, Director of the Asia-Pacific Program at the Naval War College
• Karl Rauscher, EWI Distinguished Fellow
• Charles Donohoe, Director of Business and Government Relations at AEA Investors Asia.

The delegation engaged in two days of policy discussions with Chinese officials, scholars and military experts.  The meetings, hosted by the China Institute of International Studies and the Chinese National Defense University, addressed topics including climate change, the impact of the global economic crisis on stability and security, stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan, tensions on the Korean Peninsula, maritime security and cybersecurity. 

In addition, representatives from EWI and the U.S. delegation met with Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei, Vice Minister Liu Jieyi of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Department, Vice Minister Cai Mingzhao of the State Council Information Office, as well as senior representatives from the China Reform Forum, China Institute for International Strategic Studies, China Foundation for International Studies, Institute of West Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association.  The week’s discussions resulted in proposals for EWI-facilitated joint projects on U.S.-China military confidence-building, cybersecurity, maritime security, nonproliferation, Afghanistan/Pakistan, and energy security and development in Sudan.

A common theme repeated during the discussions was the need for better communication and dialogue to increase mutual understanding and to bridge differences.  Delegates from both countries agreed that the United States and China are “joined at the hip”.  Therefore, instead of focusing on competition, the two countries should focus on ways to capitalize on the increasing number of global opportunities for cooperation.  A summary of key policy recommendations and conclusions follows:

On climate change:

More concrete action is needed between the United States and China to address climate change.  Specific recommendations for collaboration include:

• Remove policy barriers by relaxing export control policies, adjusting intellectual property regimes, eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers, and offering tax incentives to encourage investment and cooperation in clean and efficient energy technologies.
• Identify workable projects in areas such as carbon capture and storage , solar energy and electric power.
• Develop a special zone for low-carbon, clean energy and use it as a prototype for U.S.-China collaboration in other regions. 
• Identify opportunities for collaboration on a few issues that are critical but understated.  For example, both countries could explore what they would like to see beyond 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol expires, and use that target to set the context for the debate around the December 2009 U.N. Climate Change conference in Copenhagen.        
• Analyze resource trends and develop long-term (e.g. 50-year) plans to manage resources such as water.

On maintaining stability in the global economic crisis:

• The United States and China should devise a long-term cooperative strategy to enlarge trade rather than protect their own markets, and to gradually reprioritize U.S.-China economic relations to focus more on financial stability.
• U.S. economic recovery is needed to maintain global security and to facilitate China’s economic recovery and continued development. 
• The economic crisis creates the opportunity for both the United States and China to work together toward a more sustainable way of life and more sustainable models of development.
• More military-to-military dialogue and exchanges are needed between China and the United States to increase understanding on issues such as China’s military spending (including spending on non-traditional security roles), mutual intentions, and expectations of transparency.  There should be more, not less, military-to-military contact when misunderstandings and problems occur.

On Afghanistan and Pakistan:

• The United States and China could work with Afghanistan, Pakistan and other regional partners to promote a regional security architecture.
• Prompt action needs to be taken to stem the growing humanitarian crisis arising from the increasing number of internally displaced persons in Pakistan’s Swat Valley.
• China and the United States should share experiences and best practices with each other to help train police and military forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• China’s experience in managing a complex border regime might be useful to Afghanistan and Pakistan, which are facing border control issues.

On the Korean Peninsula:

• There is “North Korea fatigue” in the United States.  There is a need for honest discussions among the five remaining parties in the six-party mechanism on the way ahead in the near and long term.
• The prospect of a nuclear North Korea has profound implications for the defense of South Korea and Japan.
• Tensions need to be addressed in individual bilateral relationships, especially between the United States and North Korea and between the two Koreas.

On maritime security and piracy:

• The United Nations Security Council can play a significant role in coordinating an international anti-piracy mechanism with clear rules of engagement in areas such as the intelligence sharing, logistics support and enforcement of effective piracy laws.
• New solutions are needed to address the root causes of the piracy problem in the Gulf of Aden.  Offshore military operations should be complemented with onshore civilian ones, including the development of viable alternative livelihoods for Somali pirates.
• The international counter-piracy effort in the Gulf of Aden opens the door for further military cooperation between the United States and China in areas such as reconnaissance and surveillance, command and control, search and rescue, and joint operations and exercises.

 On cybersecurity:

• An international governance framework is needed for cyberspace.
• Cooperation and information sharing among countries should begin by focusing on common interests such as public safety, financial security, infrastructure protection, counter-terrorism, and cybercrime.

The next U.S.-China High Level Security Dialogue is scheduled for the summer of 2010 in Beijing.  These annual talks will include non-military discussions hosted at the China Institute of International Studies and military talks with the Chinese National Defense University.