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White House backs Rumsfeld

The White House said on Tuesday that US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld spelled out Washington's concerns when he questioned the purpose of China's major military buildup at a security conference in Singapore last week.

White House Spokesman Scott McClellan defended Rumsfeld's comments on the Chinese military threat when asked at a press briefing how the US can square the secretary's remarks with the Chinese audience when its arms budget exceeds US$400 billion, at a time when it is not facing war.

Stressing that the US is "a nation at war on terrorism," McClellan said Rumsfeld had "spelled out some of the concerns we had" in asking the purpose of China's increasing investment in its military.

"Since no nation threatens China, one wonders: why this growing investment?" Rumsfeld said at the conference. "Why these continuing large weapons purchases?"

"If everyone is agreed that the situation between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan is going to be resolved in a peaceful way then one has to ask why this significant increase in ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan," Rumsfeld said.

Rumsfeld "asked why it was necessary that this needed to be done, and that peace and stability in the region [Asia] is a priority for this administration," McClellan said.

"We have concerns when a country is taking the steps that China is, like that, and the secretary was simply expressing those concerns," he added.

McClellan also mentioned a meeting between US President George W. Bush and a delegation of Chinese legislators who are currently visiting Washington.

Bush told the Chinese delegation that he had good relations with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤). Bush and the Chinese legislators talked about economic issues, North Korea and the six-party talks, as well as China and Taiwan, according to McClellan.

"The president reiterated that our position remains the same, that nothing has changed when it comes to Taiwan," he said.

Responding to Rumsfeld's remarks at the Singapore conference, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) called on China to destroy the missiles it has aimed at Taiwan, under the witness of the US or the UN.

The lawmaker urged China and Taiwan to establish a mechanism for peace talks to end an arms race between the two.

Lo said cross-strait problems need to be addressed through peaceful means. Cross-strait tensions can rise at any time if China will not give up the use of force against Taiwan, he added.
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