Beijing: China has asked the US to scale back activities that may cause misunderstandings and respect its core interests, days after President Xi Jinping’s maiden visit to Washington during which he and his American counterpart Barack Obama reached consensus on fighting cyber attacks.
“The prerequisite for win-win cooperation is mutual trust,” Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army, told Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the US Pacific Command at Hawaii on the sidelines of a gathering of Asia-Pacific defence officials. “(We) hope the US side will pay great attention to China’s concerns, earnestly respect our core interests, avoid words and actions that harm bilateral ties, and reduce activities that could cause misunderstandings or misjudgments,” state-run China Daily on Saturday quoted him as saying.
Both countries have blamed each other for dangerous moves after a number of recent incidents that saw Chinese and US aircraft and ships facing off in the air and waters around Asia.
Last year, the Pentagon claimed a Chinese jet fighter flew as close as 7 to 10 metres to a US Navy patrol jet and performed a barrel roll over the plane.
Sun’s comments came as one of the US Navy’s most advanced aircraft carriers docked in Japan at the start of a deployment that will strengthen the capability of the 7th Fleet in Asia and boost ties between the US and its closest regional ally. Last week, the US announced pacts with China aimed at reducing the chances of an accidental flare-up between the two militaries, related to a military hotline and rules governing airborne encounters.
China has expressed deep concerns about frequent close surveillance conducted by US military vessels and planes off its coast, and has also expressed disappointment at comments made by US military officials that may have emboldened certain countries in the region to take a more confrontational attitude in maritime territorial disputes in the East and South China seas, the report said.
Sun believes the consensus reached during President Xi’s state visit to the US last week has given new momentum to the military-to-military relationship. He called on the two militaries to seize the opportunity to expand cooperation and build a new type of sustainable military-to-military relationship based on mutual trust, cooperation and lack of conflict.
Terming his maiden visit US fruitful, Xi played down the differences over the disputed South China Sea and cyber attacks.
At a joint press conference with Obama, Xi said China and the US have reached important consensus on the joint fight against cyber crimes, which the US President said has become a grave threat to American entities in recent years. (PTI)
