U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel expressed his optimism about stepping up military interactions between the United States and China on March 8 by recounting a casual radio conversation between a Chinese and American destroyer.

In his speech delivered on Tuesday at the PLA National Defence University in Beijing, the visiting Pentagon chief noted that during the encounter between the USS Curtis Wilbur and the PLA navy destroyer Putian, the captains of the two vessels had a pleasant bridge-to-bridge talk in the international waters of the East China Sea.

"They started with the weather and then complimented each other's ships. They went into more detail and went on to talk about their children, their families, and the Chinese captain offered to teach the American captain's son Mandarin. They talked about homesickness and what was for dinner – Mexican night on the Wilbur and 'complicated' Chinese food on the Putian," Hagel said.

Later the two captains went on to talk about trivial things such as typhoons, folk music, and the NBA, before proposing "a basketball game between the two ships."

Hagel said the example was "a reason for great hope" in strengthening military ties between the two countries, in order to maintain peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region, where risks such as the North Korea nuclear issue threaten Washington as well as its allies.

The Secretary of Defense said leadership, courage, understanding, reaching out, cooperation and management of differences – important parts of President Xi and President Obama's vision for China-U.S. relations – are the essential elements in strengthening peace and avoiding conflict in military exchanges.

Hagel added that he and Gen. Chang Wanquan, China's Minister of Defense, have agreed on two important new mechanisms: a high-level Asia-Pacific security dialogue, and an Army-to-Army dialogue, in the hope of "deepening substantive military discussions and institutional understanding."

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