As a major step toward raising the transparency of its military strength, China participated in the UN Military Transparency Mechanism this year and resumed providing the required data for the UN Register of Conventional Arms. By doing so, China undertakes to publicize its military spending in both volume and use, as well as its imports and exports of conventional arms in the seven categories stipulated by the Register. Yet, despite these efforts, China is still being accused, by certain foreign governments, of lacking transparency in its military spending. Luo Yuan, Major General at the Academy of Military Sciences of the People's Liberation Army, in an interview in the September issue of Outlook Weekly, a publication affiliated to Xinhua News Agency, speaks about the question of transparency and the reality of China's efforts in this regard. Excerpts follow:

Transparency of military strength was first proposed after the end of World War I. Early attempts were made to implement articles in conventions such as the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Washington on confining the growth of military strength. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union resumed discussions about further maintaining transparency between the two super military powers. Later in 1955, the Soviet Union suggested tentative mutual inspection over disarmaments, while the United States responded with the "Open Sky" policy. Since then, as a primary measure to curb excessive growth, military transparency has been a widely recognized common practice in monitoring disarmaments and arms control. Until the 1970s, against the backdrop of relaxed Soviet-America hostility, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe began to devise confidence-building measures (CBM) by increased military transparency. The CBM mechanism was fully carried out through the Helsinki Final Act and other related agreements reached during that session.

The principle of CBM and military transparency, such as reporting major military actions in advance, enhancing exchanges of military information and releasing military budgets, is functioning as the oil in strategic interactions between relevant parties.

The issue of military transparency has been unprecedentedly stressed in the post-Cold War era. In the most recent 20 years, the United Nations, along with other international organizations, has actively promoted transparent military building throughout the world. Member states of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) make great efforts to strengthen mutual trust in military relations by increasing transparency in relevant affairs.

Generally, a prudent approach is adopted worldwide to promote military transparency through releasing military information regularly, or policies on national defense and army building at times to enhance exchanges and deepen cooperation in the field step by step.

Western countries perceive that, military transparency in fact has two facets: inward and outward. Inward transparency is required by legislative bodies and the public, who have the right to know. On one hand, the army, as an indispensable part of the state machine, must have its budgets and expenditures publicly supervised. On the other hand, a more transparent army-building process will easily win more government support and public confidence.

Whenever outward transparency is demanded, one must be alert for a guarantee of national security and interests. The level of transparency depends on mutual relations (ally, enemy or neutral). Of course, a higher level of transparency is needed between allies in consideration of strategic coordination. For potential opponents, "transparency" may be a deterrent to shift the enemies' attention. It is more complicated when mutual relations are not good.

As the reform and opening up deepen, China has been more integrated into the world security system. China advocates and adopts a new outlook on security based on mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation, under which it is actively involved in the buildup of regional security cooperative mechanisms, like the SCO and ASEAN, where China is playing a constructive role. To prevent weaponry proliferation and maintain military equilibrium, China strictly observes the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a series of international conventions banning nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. In addition, China has constantly strengthened its arms export control measures.