Transparency can be used as strategic leverage towards states
that are quite opaque about their activities, yet keen on joining
the international order. It throws the ball back into their court
to build bonds of trust and reliability of action. Furthermore,
transparency regimes build trust and works wonders in Track II
diplomacy assuming there is a limit to what sort of defence
information is exchanged, within sensible limits too.
And nations dictate the level of transparency anyway, so there's
still vital information kept behind closed doors. But information
exchange between trusted allies brings far more benefits to help
them understand the overall picture rather than second guessing one
another.
And you may be right, it might have served as a starting point
for US-China defence transparency dialogue.
long time no hear. wellcome back.
