Visiting Chinese Defense Minister has cautioned the United States that its renewed focus on the Asia-Pacific region has highlighted military deployments at the expense of trade and diplomacy.
The "re balance" of U.S. military assets to the region has "complicated" the region's security environment, Gen. Chang Wanquan told reporters at the Pentagon on Monday, referring to Washington's term for its policy of shifting its focus from the Middle East to the Asia-Pacific.
Addressing a joint news conference with his U.S. counterpart Chuck Hagel following their talks at the U.S. Defense Department, Chang said this strategic shift should not target a specific country.
But a Pentagon readout of the press conference did not mention Beijing's concerns. It said the two Defense Ministers announced that their countries would take a series of steps to improve military-to-military relations.
The two leaders met to discuss a broad range of issues, including the re balancing of U.S. forces to the Asia-Pacific region and U.S.-China military-to-military relations. They said close U.S.-China relations would provide stability and security for the Asia-Pacific region and the world.
Establishing better military-to-military relations between the two countries is important to the overall bilateral relationship, Hagel said.
"The United States welcomes and supports the rise of a prosperous and responsible China that helps solve regional and global problems," the Secretary said. Hagel announced that he had accepted Chang's invitation to visit China next year, a move that highlights contacts between the two nations at the highest military levels.
Contacts between service-members will build trust, both Hagel and Chang said. The two men led delegations discussing the way forward and agreed to a number of steps, said a press release issued by the American Forces Press Service.
The United States has invited China to next year's Rim of the Pacific multilateral naval exercise, Hagel said.
The two defense chiefs also agreed to expand the current system of defense exchanges and joint exercises. Some examples include Chinese midshipmen joining a multinational exchange program at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement Working Group meeting in Hawaii to discuss humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
"And this weekend, our Navies will conduct another counter-piracy exercise in the Gulf of Aden, building on the first-ever joint counter-piracy exercise we held last year," Hagel said.
Hagel and Chang also agreed to set up an exchange mechanism between the People's Liberation Army's strategic planning department and the Joint Staff's strategic, plans and policy directorate.
"We also agreed to take use of mechanisms, such as defense consultative talks, military maritime consultative agreements, to actively explore a notification mechanism for major military activities and continue to study the rules of behavior on military air and maritime activities," Chang said through an interpreter.
The two leaders also discussed the recently established U.S.-China cyber working group and steps to strengthen it.
Hagel said he and Chang also discussed regional security issues, including North Korea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea.
Chang emphasized a number of times that it is his mission to build "a new model of major country relationship" between China and the U.S. based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation.
"At present, the China-U.S. relationship is in a new historical era," he said, and added: "Building a new model of China-U.S. military relationship can help us to increase strategic trust to reduce strategic risks and to maintain world peace and regional stability."
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