From AFP:
China’s military said Thursday it would welcome a future visit by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, state media reported, one month after a planned trip was called off.
“We still welcome him to visit China at a time which is workable for both sides,” Xinhua news agency quoted General Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), as saying.
The apparent olive branch comes after Beijing called off a visit by Gates in early June amid military tensions between the two sides, with Gates saying the cancellation showed the PLA was reluctant to engage on defence issues.
The brief Xinhua report gave no other information.
The Xinhua report is here.
