Top US general Martin Dempsey on Thursday met with his Russian counterpart, giving him the red carpet treatment despite diplomatic tensions over Syria between Washington and Moscow.

Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hosted a full honor cordon for Nikolai Makarov, chief of the Russian General Staff and the country's first deputy defense minister, during which 19 salutes were fired in a rare show of pomp by the Pentagon.

The meeting between the officials and their delegations comes as Russia rejected as unacceptable the text of a Western-backed UN Security Council resolution on Syria, announcing it will use its veto if the draft is brought to a vote later Thursday.

Talks at the Pentagon are expected to focus on plans for a NATO-backed missile defense shield in Europe, a military source told AFP.

Efforts to set up the ambitious project essentially based on US technology have angered Moscow, which wants guarantees saying the system would not be aimed at or used against it at any time.

NATO has said the system does not target Russia but rather a threat from the Middle East, in particular Iran.

Other topics that are expected to be covered include the situation in Afghanistan, as well as the Arab Spring and Washington's "rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific" region, the source said.

Syria could come up on the margins of the discussions.

China ready to 'enhance dialogue' with US: FM
Phnom Penh (AFP) July 12, 2012 - China said Thursday it is ready to "enhance" its dialogue with the US, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Chinese counterpart met on the sidelines of an Asian security meeting.

"China and US relations have continued to make progress this year," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said, adding the sides agreed to "enhance our dialogue... to continue to expand our common ground".

His comments come as China comes under scrutiny for its handling of a series of territorial disputes with its neighbours, which include several key US allies.

Clinton welcomed the meeting, saying a slew of joint initiatives including disaster relief, forestry policy and disease control, were "an important signal that the US and China not only can, but will work together in Asia."

The positive diplomatic tone followed the Secretary of State's warning on Thursday morning to countries around the South China Sea to settle their territorial disputes "without coercion".

The Philippines and Vietnam accuse China of acting aggressively over its competing claims to several islands in the resource-rich sea, while Tokyo and Beijing on Wednesday exchanged barbs over a separate sovereignty quarrel in the East China Sea.

Analysts have said Clinton has been keen to avoid souring ties with China during her visit to Cambodia, amid a fraught background of rows between Beijing and its neighbours.

The US has made a military and economic "pivot" towards Asia in a strategic bid to counteract China's influence in the region, the main bright spot of the morose global economy and home to huge untapped resources.