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US admiral invites China to observe military exercises The commander of US forces in the Pacific said Monday he has invited his Chinese counterparts to observe US-led military exercises in the Pacific Ocean next month in a move to improve relations. Admiral William Fallon, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, told journalists he had invited his counterparts from the navy of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to observe the Valiant Shield exercises near the US territory of Guam. "While I was here I extended to the PLA an invitation to come this summer to a major exercise that the Pacific Command will be organizing in the Pacific around Guam," Fallon said at a press briefing. The invitation was part of US efforts to repair military-to-military relations that were set back after a US Navy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea in 2001, he said. Fallon, who is on a seven-day visit to China that ended Monday, was speaking in the northeastern city of Shenyang. Last week he held talks with Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and Defense Minster Cao Gangchuan before meeting regional military commanders on a four-city tour. "Last year we set about to rebuild the relationship and extend the ties," Fallon said. "We are moving forward. It is obvious that we have the concurrence and endorsement of the senior leadership of both countries, but the fact of life is that it takes time to actually implement." Cao, according to Chinese press reports, told Fallon that the issue of Taiwan remained the key to better ties and that the United States should end its military sales to the island and clearly state opposition to any attempts by the territory to declare formal independence. Since the Nationalist government fled the mainland for Taiwan after civil war defeat in 1949, China has viewed the island as a part of its territory and vowed to retake it by force if formal independence is declared. Despite over 15 years of robust economic ties between China and Taiwan, Beijing refuses to budge on the Taiwan issue and regularly criticizes the United States for its commitment to defend and supply weapons to the territory. ---------------------------------------------------
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