US eases tone on China, Beijing agrees to hotline

SINGAPORE, June 2 (Reuters) US Defense Secretary Robert Gates played down concerns about China's military build-up today, signalling a shift in the Pentagon's tone intended to ease tensions and draw Beijing toward more transparency.

China gave way too, agreeing to a defence hotline Washington has sought for more than five years.

''As we gain experience in dealing with each other, relationships can be forged that will build trust over time,'' Gates told the Shangri-La Dialogue, the pre-eminent security conference in the region.

Tensions have risen in recent years over China's military expansion and pursuit of capabilities that Washington believes could threaten not only Taiwan, but U.S. interests in Asia as well.

Beijing has said it would boost defence spending by 17.8 percent to about 45 billion dollar in 2007. But Pentagon and US intelligence officials say China's total real military-related spending for 2007 could be between 85 billion dollar and 125 billion dollar.

US officials regularly call for Beijing to be more open about its intentions, and former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld used the Shangri-La forum to criticize China for a lack of transparency.

But this year, Gates eased the tone, saying there was reason for optimism about the U.S.-China relationship.

He said Washington was worried about the ''opaqueness'' of Beijing's military spending and modernisation programmes. He noted that the Pentagon's recently released annual report on China's military power highlighted the areas of military enlargement and weapons development Beijing was pursuing.

But while cautioning that ''distrust and secrecy can lead to miscalculation and unnecessary confrontation'', Gates said the United States and China shared interests in areas such as terrorism and energy security.

Zhang Qinsheng, deputy chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army and the highest ranking Chinese official to yet attend the Shangri-La forum, said Beijing and Washington would set up a defence hotline, a move to improve military relations.

''We are prepared that in September this year during the ninth Sino-US defence talks, we are going to settle the issue,'' Zhang said.

Still, a senior U.S. defence official in Singapore said it was too early to celebrate any breakthrough in US-China relations.

''A healthy discussion of our differences in this venue and our ability to find limited common ground suggests progress,'' the official told Reuters. ''However, it is too early to put the champagne on ice.'' AFGHANISTAN ROLE Gates also pressed Asian nations to provide more assistance to Afghanistan and other Central Asian states and ramp up their cooperation to fight terrorism.

Just as he urged European allies in February to provide more aid in Afghanistan, Gates said today that Asian states should share the burden as well and help Afghanistan with governance, reconstruction and counter-narcotics programmes.

He also said some Asian states could send more military trainers.

''The entire region is susceptible to the rise of extremist movements so the rest of Asia has a large stake in making sure Central Asian nations are equipped to deal with this threat.'' REUTERS SG VV1528