U.S. and Chinese military officials are holding talks on military security in the US from Aug. 25 to Aug. 29. These talks are intended to set up multilateral standards of behavior for both air and maritime activities.

The talks indicate the complexity of Sino-US military relations. China, the largest developing country, and the US, the largest developed country, differ in strength, culture, social system and development. Furthermore, China is seeking to rise, while the US is trying to maintain its status. This is why the military relationship between the two countries is unprecedentedly complicated. Some American officials believe that China is neither friend nor enemy of the US, and that disputes between the two countries are inevitable.

The current exchange shows that the Sino-US military relationship is improving, although bilateral military relations remain unstable and have yet to escape the cycle of “recovery, development and stagnation”. Both Chinese president Xi Jinping and US president Barak Obama emphasized the importance of improving and developing bilateral military relations in their meeting on the US Annenberg Estate in June 2014.

There are obstacles to the development of Sino-US military relations. Firstly, the US sells weapons to Taiwan; secondly, the US army repeatedly conducts large-scale close reconnaissance of China. The US should take measures to remove these obstacles. The US should take an objective view of the growing China’s military power, and give up cold-war thinking. Moreover, they should avoid any measures that damage China’s interests.

The article is edited and translated from《中美两军要不畏浮云遮望眼》, source: People's Daily Overseas Edition, author: Zhang Junshe