Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, testifies before the House Armed Services Committee on the Deartment of Defense Fiscal Year 2007 budget on Capitol Hill in Washington in this Feb. 8, 2006 file photo. [AP]

Beijing - The Pentagon's top general arrived in Beijing Thursday on a visit aimed at expanding military-to-military links, including joint search-and-rescue exercises and courses bringing together junior officers.

In his first visit to China as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Peter Pace was scheduled to meet Thursday with Defense Minister Gen. Cao Gangchuan and other top leaders of China's armed forces.

His four-day visit also includes a seminar at the Military Science Academy, visits to military installations and meetings with regional military leaders in the northern city of Shenyang and Nanjing in the east.

In a news conference Wednesday, Pace said he did not regard China as a threat and hoped to further rebuild military ties that have languished since an in-air collision between a US spy plane and a Chinese jet fighter over the South China Sea in 2001.

"When you get to know each other and know how each other thinks, you build trust and confidence," Pace told reporters in Japan, a close US ally where he began his regional tour. "I'm looking for ways to respect China as a nation that deserves respect," Pace said.

Recent months have seen tentative moves of re-engagement between the Chinese and US military, beginning with an invitation last year to observe a Chinese war games from the former commander of US forces in the Pacific, Adm. William J. Fallon.

That was followed by a joint search-and-rescue exercise and the restoration of consultation mechanisms on maritime security, humanitarian disaster relief and military environmental protection.

Most recently, US and Chinese ships joined those from other nations in anti-terrorism drills hosted by Pakistan.

Pace's visit was the "latest sign of the warming ties between the two armed forces," Xinhua News Agency said.  

However, the report also cited as an example of obstacles facing the relationship the U.S. plan to sell 218 AMRAAM medium range air-to-air missiles and another 235 Maverick missiles to Taiwan.

Pace was welcomed with a full-dress arrival ceremony at the Chinese Defense Ministry in western Beijing. Along with Cao, he was due to meet with Gen. Liang Guanglie, chief of the PLA's General Staff Department, and Gen. Guo Boxiong, China's top general.