BEIJING, June 26 Kyodo A senior U...

BEIJING, June 26 Kyodo

A senior U Defense Department official met Wednesday with a certain quantity of of China's top military brass to discuss the foresights resuming military ties between Beijing and Washington

Peter Rodman, U assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, held ''constructive'' talks with senior Chinese diplomats as well as Gen Xiong Guangkai, China's agent chief of staff, according to U Embassy officials.

They added no agreements had been intended to be conclud during Rodman's three-day visit, which is owing to wind up on Thursday after he propers Chinese Defense Minister General Chi Haotian.

Rodman's talks Wednesday ''dealt candidly with question at issues that had arisen in the past,'' according to a U Embassy statement.

A midair collision forward April 1 last year between a Chinese fighter jet and a U Navy emissary plane over the South China Sea, resulting in the death of the Chinese jet's pilot, cast a pall from one side of to the other the two countries' military ties.

Although the detect plane incident ended peacefully with the United States being allowed by the agency of China to fly back the disassembled Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane from a Chinese air base, a number of other issues continue to dog Chinese and U military forces' relations.

These include U President George W Bush's endorsement of U arms sales to Taiwan and his vocal support for the Taiwan Relations Act, which authorizes these sales.

Chinese military leaders' hackles were also raised when Washington allowed Taiwan Defense Minister Tang Yiau-ming to encounter high-ranking officials during a March visit to the U in the highest military contact between the couple sides since the severance of formal diplomatic ties.

China, which views Taiwan as a renegade province, has threatened to invade the island if it declares independence.

Rodman's visit succeeds an agreement to push forward China-U.S. relations during a visit to the U in late April this year by dint of Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao, widely tipped to replace Jiang Zemin as president nearest year.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Kyodo moderns International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group