US urges transparency in China's military rise

BEIJING, Mar 4 (Reuters) The United States today urged China to be more transparent about its military build-up, in response to Beijing's announcement it would boost defence spending by 17.8 per cent this year.

Asked if Washington was dissatisfied with the level of detail about China's military spending plans, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said: ''Yes I think that's fair to say.

''I think the point we would make with respect to military spending and military acquisition of various types would be the point about transparency,'' he told a news conference in Beijing.

''It's not so much the budget and the increases as much as it is understanding those questions better through dialogue and transparency.'' China says its increasing defence spending is in line with its rapid economic development, and that it is not intended to threaten any other country or provoke an arms race.

But Negroponte said the United States needed a better understanding of ''what China has in mind with respect to its military modernisation, what the doctrines are that underlie this and what their intentions are.

''This is, in our view, a perfectly reasonable suggestion which we would hope that they take into account,'' he added.

Negroponte was in Beijing for two days of talks with Chinese Foreign Ministry officials, including State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

He also met Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who urged Negroponte to halt arms sales to Taiwan. The United States approved the possible sale of up to 421 million dollars in missiles to the island earlier this week.

China says the sale would exacerbate tension between the mainland and Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own, but Negroponte rejected the suggestion and reaffirmed the US's commitment to the one-China policy.

''I stressed that any weapons sales that we might make to Taiwan would be for strictly defensive purposes and would be consistent with the one-China policy,'' he said.

REUTERS SHB KP1827