2015年CRI Experts: US Should Stay away from South China Sea Dispute（在线收听）

The dispute over the South China Sea gained emphasis.

Fan Changlong told Ashton Carter that the US should reduce its naval and air activities in the area, saying the construction works in the Nansha Islands are within China's sovereignty.

Doug Bandow, a foreign policy analyst at the Washington-based think tank the Cato Institute, suggests the US not get involved in this issue.

"I don't view this as being primarily an American issue. So I don't see this being primarily an issue for the U.S. military. But this is primarily an issue for Beijing and for countries in the region. It really is not one where the U.S. should want to get militarily involved, especially in the idea of a confrontational relationship with China."

The former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan also says the U.S. should be encouraging its allies to lower the temperature.

"Both Japan and the Philippines, when they're working with China, should look for ways to reduce the confrontation, find ways to talk about this."

During their talks, Fan Changlong also proposed the countries' militaries establish a new kind of relationship featuring "mutual trust, cooperation, non-conflict and sustainability."

The two sides also signed a new agreement which will create a direct communications link between the military forces of both sides.

Zhao Xiaozhuo with the Academy of Military Science says enhanced interactions can benefit the development of the China-U.S. military-to-military relationship.

"I think the exchange of high-level visits have special meanings for enhancing bilateral military ties. The benign interactions have a unique and indispensable significance for improving mutual trust. Besides high-level visits, the functional departments of the two sides, including strategic planning departments, ground forces and navies, think tanks and academies also have a great deal of exchanges. All these are beneficial to the development of military-to-military relationship."

Zhao believes the military cooperation between the two sides will extend from the sea to the sky amid the bilateral effort to cement mutual trust.

After a summit between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama last November, the two sides announced the Code for Unplanned Air or Maritime Encounters, aiming to prevent accidents at sea or in the sky.

Zhao says even though the code is currently only applied to warships, the two countries will further explore areas for cooperation.

"It was mainly between warships last year. There will be rules between warplanes this year. Meanwhile, the rules are evolving. I think these mechanism and rules can help greatly reduce crises or accidents."

Fan Changlong is the most senior Chinese military leader to travel to Washington since President Xi Jinping took office in late 2012.

As part of his time in the US, Fan is also scheduled to hold meetings with other senior US officials at the White House and State Department.

His week-long trip has seen him make stops at the Boeing factory in Seattle, as well as US military installations in California and Texas.

For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.