Beijing – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for his first official visit to China and said he would urge the Chinese government to play a greater role in global affairs and to be more open about its rapid military buildup.
Speaking to reporters aboard his plane before landing, Rumsfeld said the United States welcomed China’s emergence as an economic power, adding that “it’s a country that we would like to see engage the world, as they are, in a peaceful and constructive way.”
But he also questioned the secrecy surrounding China’s brisk military development.
“It’s interesting that other countries wonder why they would be increasing their defense effort at the pace they are and yet not acknowledging it,” he said.
Rumsfeld’s comments echoed concerns he has expressed previously, most notably during a June speech on Asian security issues delivered in Singapore.
He argued then that years of double-digit growth in Chinese military spending, and the Beijing government’s reluctance to explain it fully, were generating suspicions and upsetting the balance of power in Asia.
The communist government has rejected such criticism, noting that its military spending is minuscule compared with that of the United States and arguing that it has steadily increased military transparency over the years.
In a sign of the government’s desire to respond to Rumsfeld’s concerns, however, it has agreed to let him to visit today the headquarters of its most secretive military command, the Second Artillery Corps, which oversees an arsenal of conventional and nuclear missiles.
