WASHINGTON — American and Chinese defense chiefs met for the first time in a year on Monday in Hanoi, Vietnam, as they sought to overcome a period of unusual strain between the two militaries.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates conferred privately with Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie for half an hour on the eve of a regional defense conference in the Vietnamese capital.
Gates said afterward he had told Liang that “when there are disagreements, it’s all the more important to talk with each other, not less,” according to the Pentagon’s website.
Gates also said he accepted a formal invitation from Liang to visit Beijing for more talks with senior Chinese military officials. The visit is expected early next year.
The Chinese military broke off contacts in January after the Pentagon announced plans to sell more than $6 billion worth of arms to Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province.
U.S. officials have long sought better ties with Chinese military leaders, hoping to improve their understanding of those leaders and their murky plans for expansion. But the Chinese military appears suspicious of U.S. motives.
Even as he sought to improve ties to the Chinese military, Gates on Monday repeated the Obama administration’s contention that Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations should band together to negotiate with China to hash out their competing claims over the waters and small islands in the South China Sea.
That point of view is a source of irritation to China, which has become more assertive of its sovereignty over the oil- and gas-rich region.
Gates said in a speech to military officers at Vietnam National University in Hanoi that important issues are best solved through “strong multilateral cooperation.”
