China, U.S. defense ministers meet ahead of regional meeting

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China, U.S. defense ministers meet ahead of regional meeting

(Xinhua) 08:17, August 29, 2013

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BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan met with his U.S. counterpart Chuck Hagel on Wednesday ahead of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus ( ADMM-Plus), stressing cooperation and dialogues between the two countries.

While actively promoting bilateral defense and military ties, China and the United States should maintain dialogues on multilateral occasions and keep building mutual trust to increase positive influence on the development of Sino-U.S. military relation, said Chang.

The two countries should also explore pragmatic cooperation in disaster-relief, counter-terrorism and peace-keeping within a multilateral framework to enhance capabilities of addressing non- traditional security challenges of the region, he said.

Chang noted that the two sides should further increase positive interactions within multilateral defense and security mechanism and accommodate each other's concerns.

Expressing agreement with Chang's remarks, Hagel said it is important to strengthen communication between defense departments and military leaders of the two countries, and that he hopes to witness further development of Sino-U.S. military ties.

Both Chang and Hagel will attend the biennial ADMM-Plus, which is set to be held here on Thursday with the participation of defense ministers and senior defense officials from the ten ASEAN countries, as well as Australia, China, Japan, India, South Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States.

Ahead of the meeting, Hagel also met with ASEAN defense ministers at an informal meeting Wednesday. They exchanged views on the overall regional security and defense issues and reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region.

（Editor：YanMeng、Zhang Qian）