US Department of Defense, WASHINGTON: U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will visit China, South Korea, Mongolia, countries in Central Asia and Europe during a weeklong trip.
The multination trip will begin the week of October 23-29, a senior defense official said at a Washington Foreign Press Center background briefing October 14. The stop in Beijing will be Rumsfeld's first official visit to China since taking office in 2001.
The defense official said the visit to China is the result of a long-standing request from the Chinese government. It will include a meeting at the Central Party School for “give-and-take” with students, he said. Rumsfeld also will visit the Chinese Academy of Military Science.
“There are contentious issues” between the United States and China, the senior official said, “but there's a certain stability in the relationship which we're pleased with.”
The United States will encourage China to share more information about its expanding military capabilities, he said, and to grant similar access to defense facilities that the United States gives visiting Chinese officials.
The official also said it was likely that the Chinese will bring up the U.S. sale of military hardware to Taiwan, but he noted that U.S. military sales to Taiwan are mandated by federal law.
In Seoul, Rumsfeld will participate in the annual security consultative meeting with South Korean military officials, he said, before going on to Mongolia.
Pentagon officials earlier told Reuters that Rumsfeld will visit Kazakhstan and Lithuania during the Central Asia and European phases of his trip.
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