Defense secretary outlines views on Pacific region, world affairs at Singapore meeting
Cooperation among free nations is critically important at a time when "freedom is increasingly under assault -- by the designs of violent extremists and rogue regimes," U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says.
Speaking June 3 at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Rumsfeld said this vital need increasingly is being met by development of an expanding network of bilateral and multilateral security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, with the United States as a strong partner.
"We see this as a welcome shift," Rumsfeld told representatives from more than 20 nations attending the conference, which he termed the premier forum for exchanging views on security and progress in the region. He pledged that the United States would "stay fully engaged in this part of the world."
Worldwide, Rumsfeld called for updating institutional arrangements to meet today’s threats rather than simply relying on those created 50 and more years ago. "I don’t think they are … necessarily properly arranged for today," he said in a question period that followed his speech.
The secretary stressed his view that free nations cannot carry the day against extremists if they "try to placate and accommodate those whose vision of the future means that it is acceptable, even desirable to kill innocent men, women, and children if they don’t agree.
"Only by opposing the small minority of violent extremists at every level will free people be successful," he said.
Rumsfeld termed the emergence of Japan, South Korea and Australia as important players in global as well as regional security issues "one of the welcome international developments of recent years;" his comments about some other nations were more tempered.
Even though he described the U.S. relationship with Russia as "better than it has been in decades," Rumsfeld added that in some ways "Russia has been less helpful, as when they seek to constrain the independence and freedom of action of some of their neighboring countries."
Rumsfeld expressed similarly mixed views about China. Although China has great potential as a nation with an educated, talented and industrious workforce and boasts a strong economic growth rate, he said, "There are aspects of China’s actions that can complicate their relationships with other nations."
"As we discussed last year, a lack of transparency with respect to their military investments understandably causes concerns for some of their neighbors," the defense secretary said.
Returning to his views on the U.S.-Chinese relationship during the question period, Rumsfeld said he hoped for development of "a multifaceted relationship between our two countries that will be political and economic, as well as military to military, and that it will evolve in a constructive way as China engages the world more fully as it seems to be doing every year.
"I’m encouraged that that’s the path we’re on, I think it’s a sensible path and a constructive path, and I think it’s a path that’s healthy for the region and the world," he said.
Rumsfeld told another questioner that he had tried and failed to get the Chinese to participate fully in the Shangri-La Dialogue itself. But, he said, "I think that over time we’ll find that they will participate here, to their benefit and to our benefit. Tha
