Arms to Taiwan no reason to hold back US-China ties
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US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has chided China for suspending military ties over US arms sales to Taiwan.
Renewing his call for stronger relations between the Chinese and US militaries, Mr Gates says Beijing's stance "makes little sense".
He says while arms sales to Taiwan has been going on for decades Washington has always made it clear that it does not support independence for Taiwan.
Mr Gates's statement comes after China rebuffed his planned visit to Beijing as part of an Asian tour that began on Thursday in Singapore.
Beijing cited the January arms deal between Washington and Taipeh as an obstacle to promoting US China military relations.
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