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Gates Visit Hailed as Sign of Warming US-China Ties

   VOA News 11 January 2011
   U.S.  Secretary  of  Defense Robert Gates (L) and Chinese President Hu
   Jintao  walk  towards  each other to shake hands prior to a meeting at
   the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, 11 Jan 2011

Photo: AP

   U.S.  Secretary  of  Defense Robert Gates (L) and Chinese President Hu
   Jintao  walk  towards  each other to shake hands prior to a meeting at
   the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, 11 Jan 2011

   Senior  U.S.  and  Chinese  officials hailed warming relations between
   their  countries  on  Tuesday  ahead of a meeting between President Hu
   Jintao and visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
   Gates  met  earlier Tuesday with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who has
   just  returned  from  a  visit  to  the  United  States.  Yang  was in
   Washington to prepare for a state visit next week by Mr. Hu.
   Gates  told  reporters  covering his meeting with Yang that the United
   States  believes  the state visit "will be a major step forward in the
   U.S. China relationship." Yang said Gates arrival in China "shows that
   the overall relationship of the two countries is being improved."
   Gates  had originally planned to visit China in June of last year, but
   the  invitation  was  withdrawn  in  protest  over  U.S. arms sales to
   Taiwan.  The  main  purpose  of his current visit is to restore direct
   military-to-military  contacts, which also were cut off after the arms
   sale in January 2010.
   Gates  and Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie agreed Monday to go
   ahead  with  a  series  of military exchanges first agreed to in 2009.
   These include a visit to the United States by the head of the People's
   Liberation  Army and talks to establish a framework for future defense
   relations.
   The  two  also  agreed  on  the  need  to  maintain a "stable" defense
   relationship   to   reduce   the   chances   of   misunderstanding  or
   miscalculation. But Liang would not rule out another disruption in the
   relationship  if  the United States sells more arms to Taiwan. He said
   such sales "damaged China's core interests."

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

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