The US will brief China on its plans to test a new missile defence system.
US officials will share information on their missile defence plans with the Chinese as part of an outreach effort in preparation for US President Bush's trip to Beijing next month, said Mr Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
"We are going to talk to them about our missile defence plans [and] explain to them that this is designed to protect us from rogue nations and accidental launch," Mr McCormack said, confirming a report outlined in Sunday's Washington Post.
He denied a report in the New York Timesthat said the administration was also planning to drop its objections to China building up its small nuclear arsenal in a bid to get Beijing's support for US missile defence.
"There is not a linkage between the two," Mr McCormack said. "If there is a build-up, then we will take that into account in our own military planning".
Arms analysts estimate China has about two dozen nuclear missiles capable of reaching the United States.
Mr Bush's advisers have concluded China's nuclear modernisation is inevitable and they could gain advantage by acquiescing to it, the New York Timessaid.
Mr McCormack also denied reports in both newspapers that the United States and China might discuss resuming underground nuclear tests to ensure the reliability of their arsenals.