China urges US to mend ties as military talks resume
China called on the United States yesterday to ease military tensions between the global powers, as the two sides resumed defence talks here following a rift over planned US arms sales to Taiwan.
The talks had raised hopes of cooperation on security issues and dialogue on long-standing tensions, four months after China cut off military exchanges in anger over the proposed 6.5-billion-dollar US arms package to Taiwan.
China's offer to once again hold the annual talks was widely seen as an olive branch extended to the new administration of US President Barack Obama.
But the head of the Chinese delegation appeared to signal a bold tone in his opening remarks, emphasising that there were problems between the two sides and it was up to the United States to fix them.
"China-US military relations remain in a difficult period. We expect the US side to take concrete measures for the resumption and development of our military ties," Qian Lihua, co-chair of the talks and defence ministry press director, said in comments quoted by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
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