The possibility was confirmed by Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon after US special operations chief General Peter Schoomaker said he hoped to see such links, reports Hong Kong's leading newspaper, South China Morning Post.

Although both forces are tentatively developing ties -- observing one another's drills -- any move towards training with the PLA could prove controversial in Washington, the paper says.

Gen Schoomaker's command includes the Green Berets and Navy Seals. Their forces conduct training missions -- sometimes covertly -- in more than 100 countries.

He said the training proposal was ``desirable''.

Gen Schoomaker did not specify under what conditions such collaboration might take place with China, but he said the head ofthe US Pacific Command, Admiral Joseph Prueher, had been discussing the subject.

Bacon did not rule out such co-operation with the PLA.

``In a broad sense we're looking at future military exchanges with China,'' he said.

The Deputy Chief of General staff of the PLA, General Qian Sugen is currently in Hawaii with a high-level delegation to observe an American-led joint naval exercise.

Qian, said the US goal was ``getting our militaries to work together more smoothly'', notably on non-combat missions such as search-and-rescue and provision of humanitarian aid.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, China and the United States this week held the first-ever bilateral consultation on maritime military safety aimed at avoiding accidents involving the armed forces of the two sides.

Experts said the goal of the meeting was to promote safety in naval and air operations and to avoid incidents at sea involving the armed forces of the United States and China.

``Both sides expressed satisfaction with the consultation andbelieve it will promote mutual understanding and trust between the two nations, while laying a foundation for resolving potential maritime safety problems in the future,'' the official Xinhua news agency said commenting on the meeting.

This was the first such meeting since last January, when the Sino-US agreement establishing a consultation mechanism for strengthening maritime military safety was signed.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin and the US President Bill Clinton recently agreed that the two countries will not target strategic nuclear weapons under their respective control at each other.