Following are major events of Sino-US military exchanges since 2003:

-- US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Beijing on Oct. 18, kicking off his three-day official good-will visit to China at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Cao Gangchuan.

This is his first visit to China as Defense Secretary since taking up the post in January 2001.

-- Admiral William Fallon, Commander of the US Pacific Command, made his first visit to China in September 2005 as guest of Liu Zhenwu, commander of the Guangzhou Military Area Command.

During his stay, Fallon had meetings with Guo Boxiong, vice-chairman of the Chinese Central Military Commission, Liang Guanglie, chief of General Staff of the Chinese People's

Liberation Army (PLA), Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of PLA General Staff, and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, agreeing in their meetings to further promote contacts and dialogues in the military field.

-- Defense Ministries of China and the United States held their seventh round of consultation on defense at vice-ministerial level on April 28-29, 2005 in Washington.

The Chinese side is headed by Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of PLA general staff, and the US side by Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy.

The two sides agreed to strengthen military exchanges and promote mutual trust in the coming year.

-- Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US armed forces, visited China on Jan. 14-15, 2004 as guest of Chief of PLA General Staff Liang Guanglie,

It is the first visit of a senior US military official since November 2000. Myers met with Jiang Zemin, then chairman of the Chinese Central Military Commission (CMC), and military leaders Guo Boxiong, Cao Gangchuan and Liang Guanglie.

Myers said military relations between the United States and China are "progressing well", adding his visit was "one more step" in developing Sino-US military exchanges.

-- Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan made an official goodwill visit to the United States on October, 2003 at the invitation his US counterpart Donald Rumsfeld.

Cao's US tour is the first visit by a Chinese defense minister since 1996. He met with US President George W. Bush, then US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, then presidential security adviser.

He conferred Rumsfeld on international and regional security and other issues of common concern, and visit US military units and schools.