Rumsfeld worried by China military expansion
Special Correspondent
Oct. 19, 2005

Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, on Tuesday reiterated concerns about the rapid expansion in China’s military and a lack of transparency in its defence budget.

“It is interesting that other countries wonder why they are increasing their defence effort at the pace they are and yet not acknowledging it. That is as interesting as the fact that it is increasing at the pace it is.”

Mr Rumsfeld was speaking en route to Beijing aboard the National Airborne Operations Centre, a highly secure Boeing 747 aircraft that acts as the Pentagon in the sky in the case of a nuclear or other catastrophic attack on the US.

The official Chinese defence budget has posted double-digit growth in recent years, rising to $30bn this year. But Mr Rumsfeld dismissed this figure, saying real spending could be as much as three times higher.

Mr Rumsfeld will on Wednesday meet Hu Jintao, the Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, and General Cao Gangchuan, the Chinese defence minister. He will also to address the Central Party School, the training school for communist party cadres.

Mr Rumsfeld is set to discuss ways to improve Sino-US military ties, which deteriorated dramatically after a Chinese fighter jet collided with an American EP-3 spy plane off the Chinese coast in April 2001.

“The EP-3 incident clearly set back the military to military relationship when our plane was brought down and the crew of that plane were held hostage for a certain period,” Mr Rumsfeld said.

Asked why he had not accepted previous Chinese invitations to visit Beijing, he added: “I suspect had the EP-3 aircraft incident not occurred I would have been there previously.”

But Mr Rumsfeld said both countries now want to improve military ties, the weakest link in the Sino-US relationship, but need to find acceptable areas for co-operation.

“We would like to see [military relations] improve, and I believe that they would. The question is if we can find ways to do it that are comfortable from both nations’ standpoints,” said Mr Rumsfeld.

In an attempt to woo the US defence chief, the Peoples’ Liberation Army will give Mr Rumsfeld an unprecedented tour of the Second Artillery Corps, China’s strategic nuclear missiles command centre. When asked whether the move represented increased transparency, however, Mr Rumsfeld replied: “I don’t know. We’ll see. It will be interesting. It depends on what you see I suppose.”

The Pentagon also asked to visit the “real Chinese Pentagon” in the Western Hills area outside Beijing, but the request was denied. Mr Rumsfeld played down the PLA decision.

The US defence department has provided several visiting Chinese military delegations with tours of the Pentagon, including the “war room”, the military operations command centre.

Since the EP-3 incident, Washington has pushed for a military hotline between the Pentagon and the PLA, but so far China has not responded positively. While Mr Rumsfeld is not expected to hold back on privately expressing strong US concerns about Chinese military transparency, his public comments so far suggest a toned down approach.

The Pentagon is also aware, however, that any sign of accommodation by the US could prompt the European Union to push harder towards lifting its embargo on arms sales to China next year.

The EU this year postponed eliminating the embargo following intense pressure from the US. US officials are concerned that the EU, particularly France, will make a strong push again next year when the UK no longer holds the EU presidency.

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