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Gates: China's Military Reluctant to Engage in Dialogue

   VOA News 03 June 2010
   U.S.  Secretary of Defense Robert Gates shakes hands with Ma Xiaotian,
   China's  Deputy  Chief  of  General Staff, People's Liberation Army in
   Singapore, 30 May 2009

Photo: AP

   U.S.  Secretary of Defense Robert Gates shakes hands with Ma Xiaotian,
   China's  Deputy  Chief  of  General Staff, People's Liberation Army in
   Singapore [file photo]

   U.S.  Defense  Secretary Robert Gates says China's military appears to
   be  reluctant  to  engage  in  a  high-level  dialogue with the United
   States.
   Gates  said  Thursday  the  People's Liberation Army is "significantly
   less  interested"  in  developing  U.S.  ties  than  China's political
   leaders.  He  was speaking to reporters on a flight to Singapore where
   he is attending a regional security conference.
   U.S.  officials  say  Gates  had  hoped  to  travel to China after the
   conference   to  discuss  reviving  military  exchanges,  but  Beijing
   informed  him  the  timing of such a visit was "not convenient." Gates
   said he was disappointed by China's decision.
   The  Chinese  military's  deputy  chief of staff, General Ma Xiaotian,
   said  last  month  U.S.  weapons  sales  to  Taiwan remain the biggest
   obstacle to military ties. The Obama administration decided in January
   to allow a major arms sale to the island to go ahead.
   Gates said Thursday such deals go back years and have not affected the
   development  of  political and economic ties between the United States
   and China.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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