US 7th Fleet warship to visit China this month (Xinhua) Updated: 2004-02-13 08:51
Blue Ridge, the command ship of the US Navy's Seventh Fleet, is to visit east
China's Shanghai port on February 24-28, said Chinese Foreign Ministry
Spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue in Beijing Thursday.
Zhang said at a regular press
conference that the two sides are making preparations for the visit.
Military contacts between China and the United States will be more
diversified and cover more spheres in 2004, Zhang said, adding that there will
be high-level visits, contacts between academies, mechanical contacts and
exchange of visits of warships as well.
"We are happy with the constant development of military and state relations
between our two countries," she said.
The spokeswoman also briefed on the sixth round of Sino-US consultations on
defense at the vice-ministerial level held on Tuesday in Beijing, saying both
sides considered the consultations "positive and constructive."
The defense consultations signal the normalization of military exchanges
between the two nations, and serve as an effective mechanism for maintaining the
development of their military ties, Zhang said, adding that the sixth round of
consultations indicated that the ties were being normalized.
During their consultations, the two sides exchanged views on regional and
international issues, the Taiwan issue and the Korean Peninsula nuclear problem.
They also reviewed the growth of their military ties since the fifth defense
consultations, said Zhang.
Annual consultations between the defense departments of the two countries
began in 1997. Previous consultations have been held in Washington and Beijing
alternately. The fifth consultations were held in December 2002 in Washington.
Zhang said the two sides also notified each other of their military
construction during the consultations.
