By Patrick Walters and Catherine Armitage
US DEFENCE Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has questioned China's rapid military build-up, saying its expanding arms purchases are becoming a cause for regional security concern in East Asia.
His blunt remarks, delivered in Singapore at the weekend, indicate a hardening of attitudes in the US on the pattern of China's defence profile, particularly in relation to missile deployments aimed at Taiwan.
Mr Rumsfeld said China's military budget was the third-largest in the world and "clearly the largest in Asia" according to a study to be released soon by the Pentagon.
China was steadily improving its ability to project military power abroad as well as developing more advanced military technologies, he said.
"Among other things, the report concludes that China's defence expenditures are much higher than Chinese officials have published," Mr Rumsfeld said at the Shangri-La dialogue, an annual regional defence conference organised by London's International Institute for Strategic Studies.
He said China appeared to be expanding its missile forces, allowing them to reach targets in many areas of the world, as well as expanding its missile capabilities in the region.
He said: "Since no nation threatens China, one must wonder why these continuing large and expanding arms purchases? Why these continuing robust deployments?"
He said later that his particular focus was the significant rollout of ballistic missiles facing Taiwan.
Mr Rumsfeld said China had important decisions to make about its goals and future, arguing that greater freedom of expression would ensure it became a more welcome partner and boost economic opportunities for its citizens.
He said that although China's economic growth had kept pace with its military spending, growth in political freedom had lagged and economic success depended on an increasingly more liberal economic system.
"Ultimately, China likely will need to embrace some form of a more open and representative government if it is to fully achieve the political and economic benefits to which its people aspire," he said.
Mr Rumsfield's concerns were carried on the English-language website of China's official Xinhua news agency, but were omitted on the Chinese-language site.
In Chinese, he was quoted only as saying that China's rise was not a threat, that China was becoming more and more important, and that China's development was a good thing.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said he had no information on Mr Rumsfield's remarks.
Mr Rumsfeld stressed also that China had a crucial role to play in helping restart stalled six-party talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear program.
He condemned North Korea's "Stalinist regime", saying its nuclear ambitions continued to threaten the security and stability of the region and the rest of the world.
"To the extent that they have clearly demonstrated they are the world's leading proliferator ... then one has to assume they will sell anything and that they would be willing to sell nuclear technologies," he said.
His speech also carried an implicit message about the emerging ASEAN-sponsored East Asia summit process, in which China is set to play an influential role, but from which the US would be excluded.
"Asia-Pacific forums are most effective in my view when they are inclusive, rather than exclusive, and when they do not detract from other regional organisations," he said.
"Forums that exclude can hinder efforts to find common solutions."
