WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- With the visit to the United States by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday and Tuesday and the expected visits to Germany by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, relations between the United States and Germany are showing signs of warming up after new German Chancellor Angela Merkel took office.

    Steinmeier, who held talks with Rice on Tuesday, raised the sensitive issue of secret CIA prisons in Europe and the CIA transporting of suspected Islamic extremists through Germany but without notifying the German authorities.

    However, both Rice and Steinmeier chose the unusual move of not holding a press conference after their meeting as sharp questions from the press might eclipse a sense of good will and cooperation between the two countries after Merkel was sworn in on Nov. 22.

    Instead, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack informed the reporters of the meeting and promised that the United States would make a response to European concerns.

    "The United States realizes that these are topics that are generating interest among European publics as well as parliaments, and that these questions need to be responded to," McCormack said at Tuesday's briefing.

    "These are certainly legitimate questions that are posed by the press in public. And we will do our best to respond," McCormack said.

    Political analysts have pointed out that the new style indicates that the new German leadership prefers to discuss its differences with the United States in private rather than airing their differences in public as in the past.

    US media has also reported that Steinmeier's visit to the United States was also aimed at paving the way for Merkel's visit to the White House early next year.

    In other signs of improving US-Germany relations, Zoellick starts his visit to Germany from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 and will meet Merkel to strengthen bilateral relations.

    Moreover, Rice will also travel to Germany, Romania, Ukraine and Belgium from Dec. 5-9 to highlight the "enduring importance of transatlantic relations."

    "Secretary Rice's visit to Germany will be an opportunity to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel and members of her government to discuss ways to build our long-standing friendship," the State Department said in a statement on Monday.

    Merkel, after she was elected as German chancellor, has promised to repair Germany-US relations badly battered because of the Iraq war. Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has been a strong critic of the Iraq war launched by the Bush administration.

    However, thorny issues between the United States and Germany might impede the rapid improvement of bilateral relations. On Iraq, Merkel is unlikely to reverse course of Schroeder's policy of not sending troops to Iraq and becomes too close to the United States as in her coalition government, Schroeder's camp holds important positions such as foreign minister and treasury minister.

    On Iran's nuclear issue, Germany has insisted that Iran has the right for civilian nuclear power, but the United States has accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the civilian cover.

    Moreover, the United States has voiced opposition to Germany's bid to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

    Nonetheless, as US President George W. Bush's war critic Schroeder now steps down, as both the United States and Germany have the same values and need each other in international affairs, the United States and Germany under Merkel's leadership are expected to maintain a stable alliance in the years to come. Enditem