China and the US tried to take a step forward towards a stronger military relationship as the top US military official started talks with Beijing’s new military leadership. 中国和美国试图向构建更强有力的两军关系迈出一步。美国军方的最高官员开始与中国新一届军方领导层展开商谈。

General Fang Fenghui, chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army, called the visit of General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, “an important event in the bilateral military exchange programme”. 中国人民解放军总参谋长房峰辉上将称，美国参谋长联席会议主席(Joint Chiefs of Staff)马丁•邓普西(Martin Dempsey)上将的来访是“双边军事交流计划中的一个重大事件”。

“The Pacific Ocean is wide enough to accommodate us both. We should be co-operating partners regardless of the circumstances,” Gen Fang said. 房峰辉表示，太平洋足够大，容得下中美两国。他还呼吁中美无论在何种情况下都应维持合作伙伴关系。

Gen Fang is part of a new generation of military leaders which the Chinese Communist party installed last fall along with its new civilian leadership. US experts expressed hope that the change could help trigger progress in a military relationship which is “light years behind” bilateral ties in other areas. Chinese officials said Beijing would strive for a new type of relationship between the armed forces of the two countries. 房峰辉是中国共产党去年秋天与新一代文职领导层一同任命的新一代军事领导人之一。美国专家表示希望，此番变动能有助于启动两军关系向前推进，目前美中两军关系“远远落后于”其他领域的双边联系。中国官员们表示，中方将努力构建两国军队间的新型关系。

The talks follow signals by Beijing that it is ready to expand military ties. In a twice yearly white paper on China’s defence published less than a week before Gen Dempsey’s arrival, Beijing offered an unprecedented amount of detail about its forces and key strategies, in a gesture towards longstanding American calls for more transparency. 此次会谈发生在中国政府释放出准备扩大对外军事联系的信号之后。就在邓普西来访之前不到一周，中国发布了每两年一次的《中国国防白皮书》，中国政府在其中史无前例地公布了有关其军队和关键战略的大量细节，以此姿态回应美方有关提高透明度的长期呼吁。

The push comes as China’s navy and missile forces, boosted by a nearly unbroken two-decade run of double-digit budget increases, are acquiring the ability to project power in Asia and limit the freedom of US forces to dominate the region. Beijing and Washington also struggle with distrust over each other’s intentions in a number of issues, such as US complaints over China-sponsored hacking attacks on US companies. But at the same time the two countries are forced to co-operate on regional and global security threats such as North Korea. 在20年几乎从未中断的两位数预算增速推动下，中国海军和导弹部队正获得相关实力，能够在亚洲投送武力，限制美军部队在该地区取得绝对优势的自由。另外，中美政府还受到双方在一系列问题上不信任对付意图的困扰，例如美国抱怨中国支持了对美国企业发动的黑客攻击。但与此同时，两国被迫在朝鲜这样的地区乃至全球安全威胁上展开合作。

Gen Fang said there was a possibility that North Korea could conduct a fourth nuclear test, and repeated China’s call for talks. 房峰辉表示，朝鲜有可能进行第四次核试验，并再次重申了中国对开展会谈的呼吁。

On cybersecurity, he said: “If control is lost over security in cyberspace, the effects can be […] no less than a nuclear bomb.” 关于网络安全，他表示：“如果失去对网络空间安全的控制，其效果可能……不亚于一颗核弹。”

Gen Dempsey sought to reassure Beijing over the US military’s move to ‘rebalance’ towards the Asia-Pacific. “We seek to be a stabilising influence in the region. And in fact, we believe, that it would be our absence that would be destabilising, not our presence,” he said. 邓普西寻求在美国军方转向亚太的“再平衡”战略上让中方放心。他表示：“我们寻求成为促进该地区稳定的影响力。事实上，我们相信破坏该地区稳定的将是我们的缺席，而不是我们的存在。”

Xi Jinping, the man set to rule China for the next 10 years, took over leadership of the military at the same time as he was installed as new party chief, in a departure from his two predecessors which gives him fuller authority from the start. 与两名前任不同的是，未来10年将统治中国的习近平在出任中共中央总书记之时，也接手了中央军委领导权。这使他从一开始就获得更全面的权力。

Mr Xi also has stronger ties with senior military figures than Hu Jintao, the last Chinese leader who stepped down as president last month, when he took office. 比起上个月卸任的前任国家主席胡锦涛，习近平上任时与资深军方人物的联系更为紧密。

Under Mr Hu, the armed forces were sometimes observed as pushing their own agenda and creating the risk of disruption in foreign and defence relations. The most marked example was when the military performed the first test flight for a stealth fighter under development in January 2011 just hours before Robert Gates, then US defence secretary, was due to meet Mr Hu, and Mr Gates believed that Mr Hu had not been informed of the test. 在胡锦涛时代，中国军队在观察人士眼里有时在推进自己的议程，从而带来打乱外交与军事关系的风险。最引人注目的例子是，2011年1月份，在时任美国国防部长的罗伯特•盖茨(Robert Gates)预定与胡锦涛的会谈之前仅仅几个小时，中国军方为正在研发的隐形战斗机安排首飞测试，盖茨相信胡锦涛对此次首飞并不知情。