Senior military official to visit US military facilities
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China's PLA Chief of General Staff Chen Bingde will visit military facilities in the United States during his visit to the U.S. next week, a defense ministry official said at a news briefing Thursday.
Chen will visit Naval Station Norfolk, Fort Stewart, Nellis Air Force Base and the US Army's National Training Center, said Huang Xueping, director of American and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Foreign Affairs Office with the National Defense Ministry.
Huang said Chen will visit some US military facilities that have not been opened to visiting military leaders for years.
Chen will pay a visit to the U.S. from May 15 to 22 at the invitation of the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen.
During his visit, Chen will hold talks with Mullen, and meet with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Tom Donilon, said Huang.
Chen will also deliver a speech on the new-type military relations between China and the U.S. at the National Defense University, according to a Xinhua report.
High-level military talks resumed between China and the US earlier this year when US Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Beijing in January, where the two militaries pledged to keep an open channel for defense and maritime security consultations. China suspended military contact with the U.S. last year after the U.S. made a $6.5-billion arms sale to Taiwan.
Chen, the former head of China's manned space program, was appointed Chief of General Staff in September 2007.
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