By Carol Giacomo
US DEFENCE Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused China yesterday of enhancing its ability to project power at a time when it faced no threat and said Beijing would have to expand political freedoms to maintain economic growth and influence.
The Pentagon has been raising alarms over China's military modernisation for several years. Rumsfeld's rhetorical assault, in a speech to a conference for South-East Asian defence ministers in Singapore, underscores a growing concern in the US over China's rising military, economic and diplomatic power.
But facing an audience anxious about a possible US-China confrontation in Asia, Rumsfeld toned down parts of his prepared speech and insisted Washington sought neither to destabilise China nor fan a competition for regional influence.
"China appears to be expanding its missile forces, allowing them to reach targets in many areas of the world, not just the Pacific region, while also expanding its missile capabilities within this region," he told an annual conference hosted by the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
"China is also improving its ability to project power, and developing advanced systems of military technology," he said.
"Since no nation threatens China, one must wonder: 'Why this growing investment? Why these continuing large and expanding arms purchases? Why these continuing robust deployments?'"
One line that was dropped from the prepared text said: "One might be concerned that this build-up is putting the delicate military balance in the region at risk - especially, but not only, with respect to Taiwan." The US has vastly boosted defence spending since the September 11 2001 attacks. Some experts say China's military increases can be expected of a growing power.
During a question and answer session, a Chinese foreign ministry official asked if Rumsfeld really believed China faced no threat, and if the United States felt threatened by China.
"I don't know of nations that threaten China," Rumsfeld said, adding: "No, we don't feel threatened by the emergence of China. It strikes me that the emergence of China is perfectly understandable."
But he said China's continued economic growth "will require an openness that will put pressure on a political system that is less free, and there will be a tension over time".
When asked whether his comments meant China's rise was replacing the war on terrorism as the top US concern, Rumsfeld said "the struggle against extremism is not over" and China's rise was a largely positive development.
Analysts attending the conference said the speech was less critical of China than expected.
"We're still left with a sense that he's worried about China. But he's not saying what the US is prepared to do about it," said Jonathan Pollack, a professor at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
Rumsfeld spoke as the Pentagon prepared to release its annual assessment of China's military expenditures.
Last year, it reported China expanded its military build-up with more sophisticated missiles, satellite-disrupting lasers and underground facilities, all aimed at winning a possible conflict with Taiwan and exerting power.
It said Beijing's defence spending of $50bn to $70bn was third behind the US and Russia.
