China and the United States on Tuesday held defense talks at vice-minister level, a sign of improving ties between the two armed forces.

"China-U.S. military ties have progressed steadily as the overall relations between the two countries have enjoyed a sound development," People's Liberation Army (PLA) Deputy Chief of Staff General Ge Zhenfeng told U.S. Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Christopher Henry.

Ge appreciated Henry's efforts in explaining the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), released by Pentagon in February.

The 92-page QDR report said China had "the greatest potential to compete militarily with the United States and field disruptive military technologies that over time offset traditional US military advantages."

Over the past year, U.S.-China military relations had "improved greatly," Henry was quoted in a statement released by China's Defense Ministry late Tuesday.

Ties between the two nations were severed in 2001 after an incident between Chinese and US aircraft over the South China Sea, but relations are now steadily improving.

Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission Guo Boxiong visited the United States in July at the invitation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, making him the highest-ranking military officer to visit the United States since 2001.

In the latest step of bettering ties, Chinese and U.S. navy vessels conducted their first-ever offshore search and rescue exercises on Sept. 9 off California, part of the joint anti-terrorism military exercises.

Two Chinese navy vessels, the Qingdao and the Hongzhu, arrived in Pearl Harbor on Sept. 6, the first Chinese navy vessels to call on a U.S. state in six years.

In Tuesday's talks, Henry stressed the United States and China shared a lot of common ground and military ties were important, mirrored by Ge saying China had always taken a positive attitude toward developing military ties with the United States.

"Let's work together to remove the obstacles in military ties," Ge said, adding China would like to carry out the military-related consensus between the presidents and defense heads of the two countries,.

He urged the United States to contain Taiwan independence and not to sell advanced weaponry to Taiwan. Ge urged the US to help contain Taiwan independence and to refrain from selling advanced weaponry to the island and Henry said the US looked forward to reinforcing military exchanges, would adhere to the one-China policy and maintain the two countries' joint communiqués.

Henry arrived in Beijing on Monday. During his stay, he will hold discussions with experts from the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the PLA Military Academy of Sciences.

He will also visit the ancient capital of Xi'an in northeast China's Shaanxi Province before leaving China on Sunday.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2006)