Washington, September 1, Reuter — U.S. Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci will visit China for five days next week and hold talks with senior government officials on global and bilateral military issues, the Defense Department said on Thursday.
Carlucci, who recently visited the Soviet Union, will leave Washington on Friday and make a two day stop in Guam before arriving in Peking on Monday at the invitation of Chinese Defense Minister Qin jiwei.
He will spend three days in Peking and is also expected to visit archaeological excavations near Xian and stop in Shanghai before making a speech in Hong Kong and returning home on September 11.
The defense Department did not specify what military issues would be discussed in China, but U.S. Defense officials said the talks were sure to include the recent increase in military cooperation between Washington and Peking, including the sale of sophisticated U.S. electronic hard ware for jet fighters.
They declined to speculate on whether Carlucci would raise the issue of Peking’s sale of missiles to other countries, including the purchase of nuclear capable rockets by Saudi Arabia. Secretary of State George Shultz raised U.S. objections to such sales in a recent visit to Peking. Defense officials said Carlucci, who recently held talks in Moscow with Soviet Defense Minister Dmitri Yazou, would visit Hong Kong on September 10.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 9, 1988
