WASHINGTON -- The U.S, Department of Defense on Saturday dismissed comments by French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, who has accused her US counterpart Donald Rumsfeld of espousing a US-centered vision of the world. "The French defense minister is entitled to her own opinion," said department spokesman Jim Turner. "However, her opinion does not accurately characterize the policy or position of the secretary of defense, or the position of the US government."

The testy exchange came amid signs of a general thaw in Franco-US relations that have been jolted by France's refusal to support a US-led invasion of Iraq and its threat to veto a UN Security Council resolution authorizing use of force against Baghdad.

However, a meeting between US President George W. Bush and French leader Jacques Chirac on the sidelines of a Group of Eight summit earlier this month appeared to have reversed the downward slide in bilateral ties, according to diplomats.

Chirac told a group of visiting US businessmen Friday that France and the United States continued to be bound by trust and ongoing dialogue and remained "loyal allies," according to his spokeswoman.

However, in an interview with Le Monde newspaper published Saturday, Alliot-Marie expressed strong disagreement about what she believed was Rumsfeld's view of the United States as the strongest country in the world. "The American defense secretary believes that the United States is the only military, economic and financial power of the world," the French minister told the paper. "We don't share this vision."

She also suggested that Rumsfeld's position was in conflict with that of uniformed US military services under his command, arguing that these services "themselves find it to their advantage to share tasks between allies," AFP reported. "They recognize the job that has been done by the French military in certain theaters of operation, for instance by our aviators in Afghanistan," said Alliot-Marie. "Events in Africa have shown that our soldiers are in excellent shape, and our prepositioned forces are able to react to developments."

The French minister also insisted that US companies followed "the logic of economic warfare" and expressed "true preoccupation" by attempts by US companies to take over European defense concerns.

"We have to be vigilant and better understand that such capitalist takeovers risk creating dependence in the area of technology and exports," Alliot-Marie warned.