China confident new China-US military relationship can advance

China is confident the new model China-US military relationship will advance and hopes both countries value and maintaine the relationship, a visiting senior Chinese military official said here on Friday.

Guan Youfei, chief of the foreign affairs office of China's Ministry of Defense, who visited the United States with Fang Fenghui, Chief of General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, ended the tour Saturday.

Guan told journalists in New York on Friday the visit achieved the goal of implementing the important consensus reached by Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama on building a new model China-U.S. relationship based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

Guan said, after many years of development, the relationship had evolved into a status of "you have me, and I in you" in many areas and the trend was still deepening, which set the foundation for the new model military relationship agreed by the leaders of the two countries.

Guan said both sides believed developing the new type of relationship was significant, but they had agreement in some areas and different understandings in others, and building such a relationship was a complicated process.

During the meetings with US government and military officials, the two sides also had frank and open discussions about issues of mutual concern and differing opinions about the South China Sea and East China Sea.

Speaking of the South China Sea, Guan said, "China hopes the US can be objective and speak and act cautiously to dissuade some countries from provocation, and China has pointed this out to the U.S. clearly" in the meetings.

During the visit, Fang met US Vice President Joe Biden, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work, and held talks with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey. Fang also visited the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan at a naval base in San Diego on Tuesday.