Chen Xiaogong, assistant chief of general staff of the PLA, met with a U.S. China hand delegation led by Prof. David Shambaugh of the George Washington University on June 13 in Beijing.

　　Chen Xiaogong pointed out that China has all along attached importance to developing the relations with the U.S. and its military. He also spoke positively of the developing momentum of relations between the two militaries, saying that at present, there has been steady progress in terms of exchange of high-level visits, mechanism-based exchanges, and exchanges between military educational institutes of the two militaries, at the same time, the connotations of cooperation between the two militaries have been expanded and enriched through establishment of direct telephone lines between China's national defense ministry and the U.S. Defense Department and other forms. He emphasized that the Chinese side has always held a positive attitude towards developing the relations between the two militaries, and hoped that the U.S. side would also view and handle the relations between the two militaries from a strategic point of view and a long-term perspective, remove obstacles and continue to push for healthy and stable development of the relations between the two militaries.

　　Chen Xiaogong also briefed his guests on China's principled stand on the Taiwan issue, and answered the questions on China's military transparency and China's views on the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

　　David Shambaugh stated that there appears a new momentum of development between the U.S. and Chinese militaries in recent years, the Chinese military is opening wider to the outside world and its participation in international cooperation is also on the increase. The two sides should further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various fields, especially the two sides should continue to carry out mechanism-based exchanges on important issues, so as to gradually remove suspicion and build mutual trust.

　　By Zhang Shun

　　(June 16, PLA Daily)                                             Editor: Chen Jie