Gates: China confirms stealth jet test-flight

China confirmed it held its first test-flight of a stealth fighter jet on Tuesday, a show of muscle during a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates aimed at defusing military tensions between the two big powers.

Gates said Chinese President Hu Jintao told him the maiden test-flight of the J-20 fighter jet prototype, which could eventually help narrow the military gap with the United States, was not timed to coincide with his visit.

I asked President Hu about it directly, and he said that the test had absolutely nothing to do with my visit and had been a pre-planned test, Gates told reporters.

Asked whether he believed that, Gates said: I take President Hu at his word that the test had nothing to do with my visit.

A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hu and other civilian leaders at the meeting with Gates did not appear aware the J-20 test-flight had happened before the U.S. side pressed them about it.

When Secretary Gates raised the question of the J-20 test in the meeting with President Hu, it was clear that none of the civilians in the room had been informed, the official told reporters.


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