Relations between the Chinese and U.S. navies are their "best in history" and exchanges between the two will become more systematic in the future, China's military on Friday cited the country's naval chief as telling visiting U.S. officers. The comments by navy chief Wu Shengli come as Washington considers conducting freedom-of-navigation operations within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands China has built in the disputed South China Sea, without saying when it would do so. Such a move would likely infuriate Beijing.

China hosted a visit this week to its sole aircraft carrier by senior U.S. Navy officers amid tensions over reported plans by Washington to challenge Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea.

China and the United States have signed annexes to two agreements regarding major military operations and naval and air force encounters.

While the legislation is used as a policy tool by the US and occasionally even China, its strategy has been overtaken by events. The act is out of date, impractical and prevents bilateral relations from developing on an even footing with more mutual trust.

Although US willingness to engage China in the international system seems to be diminishing, the Chinese president’s upcoming state visit is an opportunity to get a new type of major-country relationship back on track. This will accumulate more positive energy if both countries seek functional cooperation in deferent spheres by practical and systematic means.

China’s parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression does not reflect a desire to show off its military might. The event’s aim is to demonstrate China’s confidence and determination to maintain the victorious achievements and the peace for the world.

Indecisive western responses to China’s military parade invitation are based ultimately on their profound worries about the potential impacts that China’s development will exert on the political and economic patterns of the present-day world.

The peaceful desires of most Japanese people and the powerful trends of economic globalization and world multi-polarization do not in any way support the strengthening of the US-Japan military alliance. In fact, they are harbingers of its disintegration.

The new Pentagon strategy is a throw-back to Cold War thinking and contrary to the world view of America’s founding fathers. It may pose a new barrier to developing new major-power relations in a multi-polar world, unless all sides seek a cooperative approach.

Given the accepted narrative of the space environment as congested, contested and competitive, the U.S. has been told to deter, defend and defeat Chinese challenges in space. This rhetoric wrongfully assumes challenge and elides preemption with prevention.