Reducing mutual mistrust between US and Chinese militaries is the foundation for new type of relationship between major powers

During his trip to the United States last week, General Fang Fenghui, chief of the General Staff of China's People's Liberation Army, visited a US military base in San Diego and the National Defense University in Washington and met his US counterpart Martin Dempsey at the Pentagon.

The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on a series of issues concerning bilateral relations and their military-to-military relationship and reached an important consensus on promoting more joint exercises in search and rescue, humanitarian aid and disaster relief and establishing a dialogue mechanism between the strategic planning departments of the two militaries.

The trip, which represents the two powers' common aspiration to strengthen military trust and reduce misunderstanding and misjudgments, came amid efforts by Beijing and Washington to build a new model for the relationship between great powers, the US' insistence on pushing forward its Asia-Pacific rebalancing strategy and increasing tensions over the maritime disputes in East Asia.

Since the end of the Cold War, the military relations between the two countries have experienced ups and downs. Although witnessing remarkable improvement since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, there are still many rifts stopping the two sides from having a positive relationship.

The lack of military mutual trust highlights the mutual suspicion about the other's military strength and strategic intentions. Washington is caustic about the so-called lack of transparency of China's military spending, worried about China's development of new military equipment, uncertain about China's military strategic intention, and believes China is carrying out an "anti-access/area-denial" strategy, which poses a challenge to the US' military supremacy.

The US still considers itself the global leader and is focusing on guarding against China's military rise in the Asia-Pacific region, which has inevitably led to speculation and misgivings about China's military capabilities. The lack of military mutual trust might lead the two countries to fall into the historical trap of conflict between a rising power and an established power. To prevent such a scenario, it is imperative that the two militaries improve their level of interaction and familiarity to mitigate suspicions and cultivate trust.

Fang and his entourage's touring of the US aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and littoral combat ship USS Coronado, both state-of-the-art naval vessels, shows the US' emphasis on bilateral military exchanges and its open attitude. The visit made progress on important issues and will push forward China-US military exchanges to new heights, and help realize the institutionalization and concretization of bilateral exchanges.

Building confidence is conducive to the concrete implementation of the consensus reached by the two heads of state to build a new type of relationship between the two powers. The formation of a new military-to-military relationship sits at the heart of this.

Many of the existing conflicts and contradictions between China and the US are related to their suspicions about each other's military strategy and forces. Military mutual trust needs to be strengthened to reduce the chance of any dangerous misunderstanding.