U.S. Army Chief of Staff meets top Chinese generals

PanARMENIAN.Net - China and the United States share common objectives and should boost cooperation between their militaries, the U.S. Army chief said Friday, Feb 21, at the start of meetings with top Chinese generals aimed at building trust amid rising regional tensions, the Associated Press reports.

U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno told his Chinese counterpart, Lt. Gen. Wang Ning, that both had "incredibly professional armies" that should work more closely together, in an effort to propel forward a relationship that has progressed by fits and starts over the past decade.

"I believe these discussions are important to continue our dialogue. We have many common objectives," Odierno said in opening remarks at their meeting at the Defense Ministry in western Beijing.

Wang said China "sincerely hoped" for more substantial relations with the U.S. military through practical cooperation.

Both sides said they looked forward to discussing international and regional security matters, a nod to bitter disputes between China and two U.S. allies — Japan and the Philippines — over territorial claims in the East and South China Seas that have raised alarms over the possibility of armed conflict.

The director of intelligence for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Capt. James Fanell, said last week that Chinese war games held last year were engineered to ready forces to snatch away the uninhabited islands from Japan, a move that almost certainly would trigger an American military response.

Odierno, the former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, was greeted with full military honors and had a full day of meetings scheduled in addition to a dialogue with scholars at the prestigious Peking University.

Odierno's visit began hours before the scheduled meeting later Friday in Washington between U.S. President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama, which drew a strong protest from China. Beijing accuses the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader of being a separatist agitator and opposes any meetings between him and foreign leaders.