The United States Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, warned China on Wednesday that the secretive nature of its military expansion is raising global suspicions.
On his first visit to China since taking office, the Pentagon chief expressed concerns about the ”mixed signals” coming from Beijing, as it opened up to the world yet manoeuvred to shut Washington out of Asian regional forums. The comments come amid an intense debate in the US about a possible ”China threat”.
Hawks in Congress say Beijing’s rising economic power, ballooning trade surplus and increasing defence spending pose a challenge to the US.
Rumsfeld did not go so far, but he said suspicions are inevitable.
”Many countries, for example, have questions about the pace and scope of China’s military expansion,” Rumsfeld told an audience at the Central Party School, the school for top communist cadres. ”A growth in China’s power projection understandably leads other nations to question intentions and to adjust their behaviour in some fashion.”
He urged China to be more transparent, echoing a Pentagon report last summer that claimed China may be spending $90-billion on its military this year — three times its declared budget. China has criticised the report, which said the People’s Liberation Army was modernising, aiming more missiles at Taiwan, and building up its nuclear arsenal.
China’s Defence Minister, Cao Gangchuan, denied Rumsfeld’s claims.
”It is simply impossible for us to massively increase the investment in defence capabilities,” he said, although he acknowledged the budget of $30,2-billion did not include projects such as the recent Shenzhou manned space mission.
Despite the tussle, the fact the two chiefs held a joint press conference was hailed as a positive sign. Rumsfeld’s visit — only the third by a US defence secretary in 10 years — comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity between the two countries. US President George Bush will visit Beijing next month. Earlier this week, Federal Reserve Chairperson Alan Greenspan made his first trip to China, along with US Treasury Secretary John Snow.
Wu Jianmin, the China Foreign Affairs University president, said the US has still not made up its mind about Beijing.
”There are three strands of thought: those who see China as a threat, those who see it as a friend and those — now the majority — who take a wait-and-see approach. If we let extremists prevail, both sides will suffer.” — Guardian Unlimited Â