China looks to promote military ties with US

Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie on Tuesday called for more efforts to promote a new type of military ties between China and the US. Liang made the comments at a joint press conference with visiting US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta after their talks on bilateral military ties. "The two sides should, within the framework of building a China-US cooperative partnership, advance a new type of military ties featuring equality, reciprocity and win-win cooperation in an active and pragmatic way," Liang said. He added that the two sides should increase the number of talks and cooperation to enhance mutual understanding and trust, deepen exchanges and cooperation and continuously lead their military relations to higher levels. China and the US should explore a path of coexistence between a rising power and an established power to establish a new type of big power relations. Liang and Panetta exchanged views on issues including US weapon sales to Taiwan, the Diaoyu Islands, the US's strategy of rebalancing policy, the South China Sea, cyberspace and space security, according to (Xinhua) news agency. Panetta arrived in Beijing Monday evening, kicking off his first visit to China as Pentagon chief. China is the second leg of his week-long Asia-Pacific visit, which also takes him to Japan and New Zealand.