ABSTRACT
This chapter examines recent trends in Sino–United States (US) security relations, with a particular focus on military-to-military relations and China’s call for building a “new type of military-to-military relations” with the United States. It reviews efforts by leaders on both sides to find a stable basis for political relations in a changing international environment, because the quality of bilateral political relations will determine what types of military-to-military activities are possible. The chapter provides an assessment of China’s goals of building a “new type of major power relations” and a “new type of military-to-military relations” and the extent to which they are accepted by the United States. It also reviews the elements of US–China military-to-military relations and assesses trends over the last decade. In both the United States and China, military-to-military relations are subordinate to broader political relationships between countries. The initial US–China strategic rapprochement was based on shared fears about growing Soviet power and potential Soviet hegemony.
