Australia and the United States will invite China to take part in jointmilitary exercises to help ease fears about an arms race in theAsia-Pacific region.
Ties between Australia and China havebeen strained over concerns about Beijing's military expansion and theprecarious nature of trade negotiations.
As a way of soothingtensions, Australian and U.S. defense officials have agreed to approachthe Chinese about taking part in joint military exercises.
AdmiralTimothy Keating, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, told aSydney newspaper that talks with Beijing were a positive sign thatChina was willing to cooperate in the plan. Keating also expressed hopethat any joint exercise would help the U.S. and its allies betterunderstand China's reasons for boosting its weapons capabilities.
The U.S. is reportedly worried that some of China's military ambitions do not appear to be peaceful.
Andrew Davies from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute thinks that closer military sides will benefit all three countries.
"Itgives each side confidence in the ability of the other to actprofessionally and it also teaches each side how the other tends tooperate, which can reduce the opportunity for accidents andmisunderstandings," he said.
China's ambassador to Australia,Zhang Junsai, has welcomed the prospect of joint army and navyexercises as a way of ensuring regional stability and peace.
Tensionsbetween Australia and China have intensified recently over Canberra'sdecision to grant a visa to an exiled ethnic Uighur activist and thearrest in Beijing of an Australian mining executive accused ofinfringing trade secrets and bribery.
Zhang Junsai hopes the problems can be ironed out.
"Currentdifficulties in bilateral relations is something that China does notwant to see. So, we hope Australia will join China to respect andaccommodate each other's interests and our concerns," said Zhang.
Few details have been released about possible joint military exercises between China, the United States and Australia.
Reportshave suggested they could include naval and land activities as wellpersonnel exchanges. A U.S. military spokesman at Admiral Keating'sheadquarters in Hawaii said that no formal invitations to join anexercise had yet been extended to China.