New Year brings hope for enhanced Sino-US cooperation in military relations

The Chinese military hopes the US can continue to enhance cooperation with China in strategic dialogue, risk management and conflict prevention in the new year and jointly promote the stable development of military-to-military relations between the two countries, the Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday.

Military relations between the countries have been affected by negative rhetoric and actions from the US, but relations are generally stable, as both sides have maintained dialogue and jointly managed risks, Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, a spokesman for the ministry, said in a news briefing on Thursday.

"China has always highly valued Sino-US military-to-military relations," he said. "Maintaining healthy and stable military relations not only is in the shared interests of both countries, it is also the common aspiration of the international community."

"In the new year, we hope the US can take concrete step to reduce its hostility and provocation against China," he said, adding the two countries should continue cooperation in strategic communication, dialogue mechanisms, conflict prevention and risk management.

When asked about the report released on Dec 17 by the US military, which listed China and Russia as "significant threats" to global peace and prosperity, Tan said the report tries to hype the so-called "Chinese military threat" as an excuse to justify the US' unilateral pursuit of absolute military dominance, which China resolutely opposes.

"China adamantly follows the path of peaceful development and a defense policy that is defensive in nature, and will resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, dignity and core interest," he said.

Tan said there is a group of people in the US that still subscribes to the outdated notion of Cold-War mentality and zero-sum game.

"We urge these people to clearly see the reality and big picture, and make more contribution to facilitating world peace and joint development," he said.