Transparent communication
In October, 35 cadets from military academies of 14 foreign countries, including the United States, Great Britain and Canada, spent a week at the Aviation University of the Air Force in Changchun, capital of northeast China’s Jilin Province. Together with Chinese cadets, they conducted exercises, listened to lectures, participated in physical training, observed the Chinese air force guard of honor training, and took part in psychological and small arms shooting activities.
It was the second event in which Chinese and foreign cadets lived and trained together. Twenty-two cadets from academies of 11 foreign countries took part in the first event in 2012. “Mutual learning, sharing experience, promoting understanding and strengthening friendship” are the goals of the event.
If we consider going abroad as a kind of opening up, then playing host can be regarded as a more comprehensive and all-round opening up. The Chinese air force is hospitable and open in inviting foreign counterparts and foreign media to observe military activities in order to convey the message of peaceful development.
On May 5, 2011, a practice assault by an airborne division was watched by 34 military attaches from 30 countries at a training ground in northern Hubei Province.
The attaches watched the 40-minute exercise closely as China’s air force put on a display of openness, confidence and cooperation, said military attaches from Sweden, India and Congo. They could feel the sincerity and confidence.
China’s air force is now confident in showing itself to the world. In November 2011, 54 military attaches from 51 countries visited the China Aviation Museum; in March 2013, 84 attaches from 67 countries visited the Capital Air Defense Command Center; in November 2013, 41 attaches from 38 countries visited China’s only professional institute dedicated to aviation medical research.
The air force is showing transparency in revealing its latest weapons and equipment. In 2011, Admiral Mike Mullen, then Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, sat in the cockpit of a new PLAAF aircraft during a visit; in 2012, 29 foreign military attaches from 26 countries had direct contact with the “Flying Leopard” fighters at a PLAAF division; in 2013, the deputy commander of the Russian Air Force boarded the J-10 fighter jet.
The air force is sincere in its cooperation with foreign counterparts. China hosted two military flight-training conferences in 2010 and 2012 as part of its expanding efforts to cooperate in information sharing and coping with new challenges. In 2012, the air force held a forum of Chinese and foreign aviation academies on the training of qualified aviation personnel in the digital age. In 2013, it hosted the 37th CISM World Military Parachuting Championship in Sichuan Province, involving 32 national teams. China’s air force upheld the CISM motto, “Friendship through sport,” and participants had felt the attitude of openness and cooperation, said a CISM representative.
