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US and China resuming military dialogue: Pentagon

Posted on: Thu September 30, 2010

WASHINGTON : China and the United States are resuming high-level military dialogue, with talks scheduled in Hawaii in mid-October and more later in Washington, a US defence official told Reuters on Wednesday. China had frozen military contacts with the United States after the Obama administration notified Congress in January of a potential $6.4 billion arms package for Taiwan, which Beijing considers a rogue province.

US and Chinese officials would first meet for talks as part of a maritime agreement in Hawaii on October 14-15. They would then hold high-level defence consultative talks in Washington later in the year, the official said. The decision to resume talks follows a trip by Michael Schiffer, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for East Asia, to Beijing earlier this week.

Ties between Washington and Beijing have been tested this year over US arms sales to Taiwan, Internet policy, Tibet, China s currency and Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea. The US trade deficit with China, worth $226.9 billion in 2009, has fuelled trade disputes.

US-South Korean military drills have also sparked an outcry in China, despite official US assurances they are aimed at North Korea, not Beijing. The exercises followed the sinking of a South Korean warship and have been billed as a deterrent to the North.The Defence Department has also raised questions about what drives Beijing s rapid military build-up. In a recent report, the Pentagon said Beijing was expanding its military edge over Taiwan and making its short-range ballistic missiles more lethal.

Courtesy : Business Recorder