BEIJING — The United States’ top military officer met with Chinese officials in Beijing on Sunday, the first such trip in more than four years and a sign of revival in what has for years been a stagnant military relationship.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, held talks with Chinese Gen. Chen Bingde, chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army. The visit follows a trip by Chen to the United States in May.
Ties between the militaries have been improving since January’s meeting in Washington between President Hu Jintao and President Barack Obama. The Chinese suspended relations with the Pentagon for much of 2010 to protest U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and the Dalai Lama’s January 2010 visit to the White House.
But Mullen’s visit comes as tensions between the two militaries are threatening to rise once more, this time over China’s claim to virtually all the South China Sea, which is believed to hold valuable oil and mineral deposits beneath the seabed.
