Article Posted on : - Oct 17, 2011

WASHINGTON (PTI): Amid growing global concern over the PLA's massive defence modernisation, the US is pressing China to increase transparency and reduce the risk of "miscalculation or miscues" between their militaries, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.

"Over the last two-and-a-half years, one of my top priorities has been to identify and expand areas of common interest, to work with China to build mutual trust, and to encourage China's active efforts in global problem-solving," Clinton has said in an article on 'America's Pacific Century' in the latest edition of the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine.

"We all know that fears and misperceptions linger on both sides of the Pacific. Some in our country see China's progress as a threat to the United States; some in China worry that America seeks to constrain China's growth. We reject both those views," she says.

The US is also working with China to increase transparency and reduce the risk of miscalculation in military ties, she says.

"We are also working to increase transparency and reduce the risk of miscalculation or miscues between our militaries. The United States and the international community have watched China's efforts to modernise and expand its military, and we have sought clarity as to its intentions," she says.

Buoyed by the development of a new stealth fighter, an aircraft carrier and a number of space launches over the past year, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China is determined to achieve its goal of building a modern military by 2020, the Pentagon said recently.

"Both sides would benefit from sustained and substantive military-to-military engagement that increases transparency. So we look to Beijing to overcome its reluctance at times and join us in forging a durable military-to-military dialogue," she says on bilateral defence ties which have witnessed zig-zags in the recent times.

China today represents "one of the most challenging and consequential bilateral relationships" the United States has ever had to manage, she says, adding that it calls for careful, steady, dynamic stewardship.

"A thriving America is good for China and a thriving China is good for America," Clinton says, adding that both countries have much more to gain from cooperation than from conflict.