China not a military threat to US, says Powell

Former U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, on Thursday stressed the importance of U.S.-China cooperation and dismissed the assertion that China would be a military threat to the U.S.

“I do not think China will be a military threat. It is not in their interest to be a military threat to the U.S.,’’ Powell said in a lecture at the Library of Congress in Washington.

He encouraged the U.S. to work with China, saying that such cooperation would not result in a military conflict.

The former top diplomat said China’s economic development in recent decades was `astonishing,’ pointing out that China is making efforts to invest in its future.

“The U.S. has to have a proper relationship with China,’’ Powell said.

Another speaker of the lecture, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, shared Powell’s views on the importance of U.S.-China ties.

Albright said that there was never a time the two major powers had been so dependent on each other and their economies so intertwined.

“The cooperation part of U.S.-China relations is very important,” said Albright, emphasising that it is the essential relationship.

At the invitation of U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping would pay a State visit to the U.S. in September, reports Xinhua.