WASHINGTON -- U.S. President George W. Bush met Guo Boxiong, China's top general, at the White House on Thursday and the two exchanged views on international and regional security as well as relations between the two nations and the two armed forces.

During the meeting, Guo, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC), conveyed best wishes to Bush from Chinese President Hu Jintao.

China's Central Military Commission Vice Chairman General Guo Boxiong(L) and U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stand at attention during the playing of the national anthem before their meeting at the Pentagon in Washington July 18, 2006.[Reuters]

Guo said the purpose of his visit to the United States was to implement the consensus reached by Bush and Hu on increasing exchanges and cooperation between the two armed forces during Hu's visit to the United States in April.

He said that the relationship between the two armed forces will be deepened by enhancing mutual understanding and trust, fostering friendship and increasing cooperation.

Gaining attentions and momentums directly from the presidents of the two nations, the current relationship between the two armed forces is the best in recent years, and the prospect will be brighter with joint efforts from both sides, he noted.

Guo also reaffirmed China's position on the Taiwan issue.

Bush said he actively supports closer ties between the two armed forces and would like to see more military-to-military exchanges and visits.

He noted that the U.S. position on the Taiwan issue is very clear, and the U.S. government will continue to adhere to the three joint communiques between the United States and China and is opposed to any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo across the Taiwan Straits.

According Qian Lihua, vice director of the Foreign Affairs Office of China's Ministry of Defence, China's navy fleet will visit the United States in September, and the navy of the two nations will hold a joint marine search-rescue drill near the US west coast or Hawaii.

And later in October or November, US Navy fleet will visit China and will jointly hold a large-scale marine search-rescue exercise near the Chinese coast, Qian said.

During a separate meeting with Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, earlier on Thursday, Guo gave high marks on the current relationship between the two armed forces.

He noted that during Hu's successful visit to the United States in April, the presidents of the two nations reached an important consensus on how to promote the constructive cooperation between the two sides in all areas in the 21st century.

Guo also pointed out that although the bilateral military relationship has been continuously improved in recent years, its development still lags behind that of the overall relationship between the two countries.

The general hoped that the U.S. side will properly handle the Taiwan issue, stop upgrading its military ties with Taiwan and halt sales of advanced weapons to Taiwan, so as not to send wrong signals to Taiwan's secessionists.

Hadley said he is glad to see that Guo's visit has yielded many positive results.
He stressed that the U.S. side attaches great importance to China-U.S. relations and would like to see active exchanges and cooperation between the two armed forces.

Guo, who started his week-long visit to the United States Sunday night, arrived in Washington Monday night and will fly to New York to continue his visit.