The two countries are attempting to bolster ties over the next fortnight before the US visit of President Hu Jintao on January 19.
US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon met Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi this week to prepare for the visit.
"Mr Donilon stressed the importance of effective efforts to reduce imbalances in both the global economy as well as in US-China trade," a White House statement said.
"They discussed ways to advance our non-proliferation objectives, including working together to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, to meet its commitments and international obligations, and to avoid destabilising behaviour."
On Sunday, US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates will make his first visit to Beijing after two years in the job in the Obama administration.
It will effectively end the freeze in military relations triggered by China after the US sold $US6.4 billion worth of arms to Taiwan last February.
In the months following the deal, China began testing its weight in the region, entered spats with Japan and Vietnam, and won few friends by implicitly backing North Korea after the sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan and the missile attack on Yeonpyeong island.
Much has been made in recent years of China's naval build-up, which is expected to culminate in the production of its first aircraft carrier by 2015. It is also developing the world's first anti-aircraft-carrier missile.
Now, ahead of the Beijing visit by Mr Gates, photos of what experts believe to be China's first stealth fighter plane have appeared online.
The photographs, published on several unofficial Chinese and foreign defence websites, appear to show a prototype plane known as a J-20 making a high-speed taxi test -- usually one of the final steps before an aircraft makes its first flight.
Observers predicted China could be three years ahead on its plans for the aircraft.
0 comments:
Post a Comment