Rumsfeld explains U.S. pressure on China to change

SINGAPORE -- Pentagon chief Donald H. Rumsfeld said Saturday that U.S. pressure for political and economic change in China is not intended to undermine the Beijing government.

He criticized China for increasing military spending despite the absence of a threat from another country and said the Asian power risks diminishing its global influence unless it opens up its political system.

Political and economic freedom are in China's best interests, the U.S. defense secretary said.

Conveying a hard line from the Bush administration, Rumsfeld used his keynote speech to challenge China's military buildup and urge political change.

Rumsfeld said the Pentagon's annual assessment of China's military capabilities shows China now has the world's third-largest military budget, behind the U.S. and Russia. He did not say how large the U.S. believes China's military budget is.

A report last month by a U.S. think tank put China's military spending between $69 billion and $78 billion a year, estimated in 2001 U.S. dollars. That ranges between 2.3 percent and 2.8 percent of China's gross domestic product, according to the RAND Corp. That compares with the $430 billion spent by the U.S. on defense in 2004 -- 3.9 percent of the country's GDP.

Cui Tiankai, the director of the Asia bureau of China's foreign ministry, was in the audience for Rumsfeld's speech. He questioned Rumsfeld afterward.

"Do you truly believe that China is under no threat by other countries?" Cui asked. "Do you truly believe that the U.S. is threatened by the emergence of China?"

Rumsfeld said he does not think any country threatens China and that the U.S. does not view China as a threat. But he did question why China has stationed hundreds of missiles within range of Taiwan.

"I just look at the significant rollout of ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan and I have to ask the question: If everyone agrees the question of Taiwan is going to be settled in a peaceful way, why this increase in ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan?" Rumsfeld said.

China has said it will attack Taiwan if the self-governing island tries to declare formal independence. China repeatedly has urged the U.S. to stop selling weapons to Taiwan, which Beijing views as a renegade province that must be reabsorbed by the mainland.

This year, China denounced a joint U.S.-Japan statement that said the two allies shared the objective of a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue.

The U.S. wants the European Union to keep in place its ban on selling weapons to China. Washington argues that any European weapons sold to China could be used against Taiwan.

Cui rejected the suggestion that China is spending more than necessary on its military.

"Since the U.S. is spending a lot more money than China is doing on defense, the U.S. should understand that every country has its own security concerns and every country is entitled to spend money necessary for its own defense," Cui told The Associated Press.

Turning his attention to North Korea, Rumsfeld said China is in the best position to persuade the North Koreans to return to six-nation talks about its nuclear weapons program. Nearly a year has passed since North Korea, which has said its possesses nuclear weapons, last participated in the talks.

South Korea's defense minister, who met with Rumsfeld on Saturday, said Seoul agrees that China should try to persuade North Korea to rejoin the talks.

"I believe these efforts are very much respected," Yoon Kwang Ung told reporters.

Rumsfeld branded North Korea a worldwide threat because of its record of selling missile technology and weapons. "One has to assume that they'll sell anything, and that they would sell nuclear technologies," Rumsfeld said.

In other developments Saturday:

--Rumsfeld said Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based pan-Arab television network, promoted terrorism by airing beheadings and other attacks. He said the station provides a platform for Muslim extremists and that the U.S. has a hard time combating terrorists' claims. "Governments have to be accurate. Extremists don't," he said. Al-Jazeera denies it holds any anti-American bias and says it reports the news objectively.

--In Beijing, the U.S. commerce secretary said Saturday that China's mounting trade surplus, surging textile exports and rampant product piracy could fuel opposition in the United States to free trade. Carlos Gutierrez was on his first visit to Beijing amid a storm of Chinese criticism over U.S. textile quotas.

The administration and many U.S. lawmakers also are pressing for an overhaul of China's currency system. U.S. manufacturers say China's practice of keeping the yuan tightly linked to the U.S. dollar has contributed to the loss of millions of U.S. jobs and America's soaring trade deficit.