Former and current US officials have said that they feel that China's premium on bilateral ties with the country might just be tempering its reaction to the very recent decision shared by America to sell arms to Taiwan.

Last month, when the Obama Administration had announced its decision to sell $6.4 Billion worth of arms to Taiwan, which China considers a part of its territory, the country had responded negatively and did not seem to be happy about the development.

"The Chinese have to make some type of statement that underscores they view this as a core issue to them. But I do think that over the past year, we saw some institutional learning on the part of the PLA and the senior Chinese political leadership that there is value in maintaining these kinds of contacts and interactions", said a high ranking defense official.

Over the years, there have been many incidents which managed to sour the relationship between China and the US, and as far as the latest happening goes, reports are the Chinese officials are still debating over how to officially respond to the issue.

"China is strongly for sound bilateral relations with the U. S., including military-to-military exchanges, but there is a prerequisite", said Wang Baodong, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington.