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BEIJING, Oct 19 (AFP): US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned China Wednesday it is sending "mixed signals" with a military buildup whose pace, scope and secretiveness has led other nations to question its intentions.
Defence Minister Cao Guangchuan denied that China has understated its military spending and insisted that raising the living standards of the country's poor made it "impossible to massively increase" military spending.
Rumsfeld raised US concerns about China's military intentions in a meeting with Cao and earlier in a seminar at a school that grooms future Communist Party leaders.
He was also scheduled to meet President Hu Jintao, and make an unprecedented visit to the headquarters of the Strategic Rocket Forces.
After meeting with Cao, Rumsfeld said they discussed "what I would characterize as mixed signals we've been getting... and to understand the reaction one gets when one receives mixed signals."
They agreed that the US and Chinese militaries need more educational exchanges and other activities "to demystify what we see of them and what they see of us," he said.
Cao, who described the talks as candid, pragmatic and constructive, insisted that Chinese military spending this year totals about 30 billion dollars, although he acknowledged that the space program and other equipment spending was outside the defense budget.
"That is the true budget we have today," he said.
The Pentagon in July estimated the true size of Chinese defense spending at 90 billion dollars a year, with much of it going to sophisticated weaponry that will enable China to project power in the Asia-Pacific region.
In his earlier session with students and faculty at the Central Party School, Rumsfeld laid out US concerns about China's lack of political openness.
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