Posted on 07/11/2005 8:06:15 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Monday 11.07.2005, CET 16:50
July 10, 2005 10:50 AM
U.S. concerned about China military buildup - Rice
BEIJING (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday the U.S. government, not just the Pentagon, had concerns about China's military buildup, but that it did not necessarily constitute a threat.
Rice also said she had prodded China to engage with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader who lives in exile in India and who she said was not a threat.
"There is no doubt that we have concerns about the size and pace of the Chinese military buildup and it's not just the Pentagon," Rice told a news conference in Beijing after meeting Chinese President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.
"That does not mean that we view China as, quote-unquote, a threat," she said, adding the Chinese military buildup raised concerns about the balance of power in the region.
Still, there were more positive elements in Sino-U.S. relations than negative, she said.
Rice's comments came as the Pentagon worked with several other U.S. government agencies on a report on China's growing military clout. The Defense Department has no target date in mind for the release of the 2005 annual report, officially required to be delivered to Congress by March 1.
There was speculation it was being delayed until after Rice's trip to China because, in the past, Beijing has objected strongly to its portrayal in such reports as a growing threat to the military balance in Asia.
Washington has been courting Beijing to help prod North Korea to return to six-party nuclear talks. The North late on Saturday announced that it had agreed with the United States to restart the talks, stalled for a year, in the week of July 25.
Rice said that in her meetings with Chinese leaders on Sunday she had had the chance to discuss U.S. human rights concerns, including specific cases.
She was able to "ask that China reach out to, in particular, the Dalai Lama, who is for Tibet a man of considerable moral authority but who really is of no threat to China".
The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, fled his Himalayan homeland in 1959 after a failed uprising against Beijing's Communist rule, imposed after troops entered Tibet in 1950.
The Nobel Prize winning monk has lived as he head of a government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India, since.
China calls him a separatist, but the Dalai Lama has said he only seeks greater autonomy for Tibet. He turned 70 on Wednesday.
Rice was due to leave China later on Sunday for Thailand.
Chinese have an interesting mentality. While they always belittle northen nomads who used to invade and conquer China, once nomad overran China, they are used to silently cowering and resigning to their fate.
Their middle kingdom syndrome is frequently their escape from unpleasant reality of being ruled by what they regard as barbarians. When the swords are pointed at their throat, they have no choice but smile and submit.
The same kind of mentality works toward either U.S. or even Japan.
Ping!
This is news????
Yes, it is a news that she said it in Beijing, not in D.C..
Perhaps we should wait until their military buildup IS considered a threat before we do anything...
That was Kerry's plan...
Just another CYA. Talk but no action.
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