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China & USA hold first military-to-military consultation since Obama took office: “Remaining difficulties”
The talks between the Chinese and the US defense ministries are the fifth of it’s kind and prove to speak out the remaining difficulties of the military relation between the two countries.
According to Qian Lihua, director of Foreign Affairs Office of China’s Defense Ministry, the Chinese side is determined to approach the ongoing Taiwan issue which remains in the center of the military mind.
“China-US military relations remain difficult. We expect the United States to take concrete measures for the resumption and development of our military ties. Frankly speaking, it will take a long time to restore our military exchanges as not a single obstacle in military ties has been removed so far.”
The US-Taiwan arms deal of October 2008 is still watched with special attentiveness. It was the biggest arms deal to Taiwan since China and the United States signed the “August 17 Communique” in 1982 which stated to reduce the military support of Taiwan. The deal was worth $6.5 billion and included 30 Apache attack helicopters and 330 Patriot missiles.
The US representative Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense David Sedney said he is following the footsteps of the recent China visit of Hillary Clinton:
“I was here two months ago when I was an official of the Bush administration. Now I am happy to come as an official of the Obama administration. We must increase communications to reduce the chance of strategic misunderstanding. We do have a lot of serious and important things to talk about … I hoped this year’s session will be productive and fruitful.”
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