CRI听力: Mr. Tao Wenzhao Talks about Robert Gates' Visit to China

China and the US are making another effort to warm up their military relationship, as China's National Defense Ministry announced US defense secretary Robert Gates' visit to China from Jan 9 to 12 next year.

It has been almost a year after China cut bilateral military ties in protest at the proposed US arms sales to Taiwan, and up until now Gates' visit to China has been suspended.

Chinese and American senior military officials started to re-engage with each other in autumn. In October, China's national defence chief Liang Guolie held talks with Gates in Hanoi on the sidelines of the Defence Ministers Meeting between ASEAN and its dialogue partners.

Earlier this month, China and the US held a defence consultation in Washington.

The Pentagon said, during the forthcoming visit, Gates will seek to extend cooperation in some areas with China's military and promote dialogue aimed at improving "mutual understanding and reducing the risk of miscalculation."

For more on the military-to-military exchange between China and the US, we were joined earlier on the line by Mr. Tao Wenzhao, senior research fellow with the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.