State Department official James Kelly said Chinese officials agreed to further discussions over the planned missile defense system along with U.S. proposals for curbing weapons proliferation and reducing America's nuclear forces. Earlier, China's Foreign Ministry said talks on Tuesday had not softened Beijing's opposition. Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi urged Washington to abandon its plan, saying the system would endanger the global strategic balance, spark an arms race and frustrate arms control efforts. China has previously said it could beef up its small nuclear arsenal or improve the technology of its missiles to overcome the U.S. defenses.
China considers Taiwan a breakaway territory.
Chen will be in the U.S. on his way to and from Latin America. The range of activities and the permission to meet legislators mark a departure from the practice of the previous U.S. administration, which imposed tight restrictions on what visiting Taiwanese leaders could and could not do. Kelly, an assistant secretary for east Asian and Pacific affairs, met with China's chief arms control official, Sha Zukang, and other Foreign Ministry officials. Kelly said he reiterated U.S. arguments that the system wasn't aimed at China, but intended to defend against accidental missile launches or attacks from unpredictable countries such as North Korea. Kelly said the sides also discussed returning the U.S. Navy EP-3E Aries II surveillance plane that made an emergency landing on southern China's Hainan island after an April 1 collision with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea.