The Vice-Chairman of China's Central Military Commission, General Fan Changlong, is continuing his five-day visit to the US. Fan is making a number of stops around the country.

On Tuesday, Fan visited two military bases in the US West Coast state of California. He is due to visit one more in Texas on Wednesday, before arriving in Washington DC on Thursday, to meet with the US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.

On Friday, he will also meet with officials from the White House and State Department.

He is a familiar face to many of them. Last month, Fan met with the US Secretary of State John Kerry upon his visit to Beijing. Now in the US, the Chinese general is leading the largest military delegation to visit the country since Xi Jinping became president of China more than two years ago. It also comes just two weeks before a major US-China dialogue, to be held in Washington and just months before the Chinese leader is due in the US.

Fan's visit to the US comes amid growing tensions between the Washington and Beijing over Chinese activities in the South China Sea. The US wants China to agree to international arbitration to resolve disagreements over the waters, while China says its maritime activities fall within its sovereign territory.

The dispute, at times, has had a military overtone, casting a shadow over cooperative pursuits. Both sides say they do not want that to be the case.

No doubt both sides will reiterate their positions as the week progresses, but experts say the high-level visit is a good sign that relations between the world's two largest economies are still on the right track.

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