US military officials voice frustration over ties with China

A hiatus in Chinese military ties with the US has been officially over for more than six months. But American military officials say the gains from dialogue have been limited.

US and Chinese military officials met in Beijing last week to discuss the upcoming visit to Washington of People's Liberation Army commander Chen Bingde. Officials from both countries said that they look forward to a continuation of bilateral military consultations, which were frozen last year after the US sale of arms to Taiwan.

Military relations have improved, the commander of US forces in Asia-Pacific, Admiral Robert Willard, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. After a spate of territorial disputes in its coastal waters last year, China's navy had 'retrenched', Willard said. 'While we continue to experience their shadowing of some of our ships that are operating in some of these waters, we have not seen the same level of assertiveness in 2011 that we witnessed in 2010,' he said.

American military officials also said the dialogue had fallen short of long-held hopes.

Secretary of Defence Dr Robert Gates has twice proposed high-level dialogue with China on nuclear strategy, space and cyberspace issues, Willard said last week. But China has given no definitive response.

Defence department official Bradley Roberts told senators on Wednesday that the administration has also sought to discuss ballistic missile defence issues with China, 'with little success'.