January 27, 2000
Web posted at: 9:24 p.m. EST (0224 GMT)

From Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen plans to visit China later this year, a signal that U.S.-China relations -- cool since the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia last year -- are thawing.

Cohen said Thursday he received the invitation during three days of talks with Lt. Gen. Xiong Guangkai, the Chinese People's Liberation Army deputy chief of staff who met with U.S. officials this week.

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China tomorrow

The defense secretary described his meeting Wednesday with Xiong at the Pentagon as "very cordial" and said the two had a "good discussion on a range of issues."

"I think that we are on track to getting military-to-military relations back at a normal state of affairs," Cohen said. The trip to China will be taken at a "mutually convenient" time, he added.

U.S. officials have apologized for the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade and have insisted it was the result of a targeting mistake.

Cohen last visited Beijing in January 1998 and was scheduled to return last June, but that trip was called off after the bombing of the embassy by U.S. planes.