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Beijing's nuclear missiles a concern, Rumsfeld says

The expanding reach of China's nuclear missiles is worrisome to the US, which would like Chinese officials to be more open about their intentions, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday.

In a speech to the Academy of Military Sciences, Rumsfeld said nuclear capability is an area in which the US would like China to show more transparency.

"China ... is expanding its missile forces and enabling those forces to reach many areas of the world well beyond the Pacific region," Rumsfeld said. "Those advances in China's strategic strike capacity raise questions, particularly when there's an imperfect understanding of such developments on the part of others."

His statement echoed a theme he has pressed during his first visit to China since becoming defense secretary in 2001 -- that China's secretiveness creates international worries about its military intentions.

In his speech to the Academy of Military Sciences, Rumsfeld said many countries with an interest in the Asia-Pacific region are questioning China's military intentions.

While it is up to China to decide how much it wishes to say on the subject, "greater clarity would generate more certainty in the region," Rumsfeld said.

On Wednesday, the commander of China's nuclear missile forces reaffirmed to Rumsfeld that in an armed conflict China would not be the first to use nuclear weapons.

General Jing Zhiyuan, commander of the Second Artillery, which operates the country's growing arsenal of nuclear missiles, offered the assurance while hosting Rumsfeld as the first foreigner to visit his headquarters, according to two US officials who participated in the meeting.

Jing disavowed a public suggestion by another Chinese general earlier this year that the US could be targeted for a nuclear strike in the event that it intervened in a conflict over Taiwan.
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