As Gates visits, China shows off stealth jet

BEIJING - In a sharp rebuke to U.S. efforts at mending ties with Beijing, the Chinese military reportedly staged its first test flight of a stealth fighter jet yesterday even as Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with China's top civilian leadership.

Later in the afternoon, Gates told reporters that he now thinks North Korea, a nation backed by Beijing, could develop intercontinental ballistic missiles within five years and pose "a direct threat" to America.

Gates is in China for three days of talks that he had hoped would set the groundwork for a formal strategic dialogue between the countries' militaries. The trip now appears to be echoing the very tensions and misunderstandings that led China to cut off military exchanges with the United States last January.

The continued difficulties underscored the many issues that will confront President Barack Obama during President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington next week.

- McClatchy Newspapers