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China, US to end 10th defense consultation Wed.

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-24 14:31

BEIJING: China and the United States will conclude their 10th annual round of defense consultations Wednesday, according to China's Defense Ministry.

No immediate details were available about the two-day talks between delegations headed by Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ma Xiaotian and US Under-Secretary of Defence for Policy Michele Flournoy.

The two sides are scheduled to hold press a conference Wednesday afternoon to brief reporters on the outcome of the dialogue.

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Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie will meet Flournoy later Wednesday afternoon, before Flournoy travels to Seoul.

Since its inception in 1997, the consultative mechanism has become an important channel for the two defense ministries to enhance mutual trust, communication and cooperation until it was suspended after the Bush administration announced a $6.5-billion arms deal with Taiwan last year.

High-level military talks resumed in February 2009, when David Sedney, a US deputy assistant secretary of defense, visited Beijing.

This round talks marks the resumption of the deputy-ministerial level defense consultations. The last such meeting was in December 2007.