AlQa'dah 2, 1433, Sep 18, 2012, SPA - The Chinese defense chief, who met with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Tuesday, said he hoped for a peaceful resolution of the island dispute with Japan. Liang Guanglie held talks in Beijing with Panetta, who arrived in China after visiting Japan. The United States has not taken a stand on the issue and that was repeated by Panetta. He stressed the need for a diplomatic solution to the dispute over the small islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Liang also stressed China's right to take "further actions," the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. In Beijing, Xinhua said Panetta said the goal of his talks with Liang "is to have the United States and China establish the most important bilateral relationship in the world" and that the key for that "is to establish strong military-to-military relationship."
