Panetta urges China to increase military contacts with US
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US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urged China on Tuesday to allow closer military contacts to reduce the risk of confrontation, as the two powers grapple with a volatile territorial dispute between Beijing and Tokyo.
Panetta's trip to Beijing for talks with senior Chinese military and government leaders has coincided with an eruption in tension over rival claims by Japan and China to a cluster of islands in the East China Sea. He told Defence Minister Liang Guanglie that Washington and Beijing should foster closer military contacts and avoid misunderstandings that could spiral into confrontation. (Reuters)
