China and the United States are to hold an annual work meeting of their defense ministries this month, a spokesman of the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a news release.

David Sedney, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense, will visit China from Feb. 27 to 28 for a meeting with the head of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of Defense of China.

China will exchange views with the United States mainly on bilateral military relations and issues with great concern of China, said the news release.

"China always attaches great importance to the Sino-U.S. military ties and is willing to make concerted efforts with the U.S. to enhance the communications between the two armies," it said.

China hopes the United States to give faithful respect to China's core interests and major security concerns so as to create favorable conditions for the improvement and development of bilateral military ties, according to the release.

Military exchanges between China and the United States have been suspended since October last year when the then Bush administration notified Congress of its plan to sell arms worth about 6.5 billion U.S. dollars to Taiwan.

(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2009)