主题：丝带已成浮云！我国跨大气层飞行器已试飞成功！ -- 阳光棕榈园

But Dr Gates warned China not to underestimate the US or the continuing power of its military.

"I've watched this sort of cyclical view of American decline come around two or three times, perhaps most dramatically in the latter half of the 1970s," Dr Gates told reporters en route to China.

"And my general line for those both at home and around the world who think the US is in decline is that history's dustbins are filled with countries that underestimated the resilience of the United States."