US asks China to show more transparency in military capability

Asks to use military capabilities in a manner conducive to maintenance of peace and stability in the Asia Pacific

The US has asked China to show greater transparency with respect to its military capabilities and use them in a manner conducive to maintenance of peace and stability.

 

"We encourage China to use its military capabilities in a manner conducive to the maintenance of peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region," State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference yesterday.

 

"That's a message that the Secretary (of State John Kerry) conveyed when he was there and senior officials convey all the time. We continue to carefully monitor China's military developments and to encourage China to exhibit greater transparency with respect to its capabilities and intentions," she said in response to a question.

 

"Broadly speaking, we've expressed concern in the past, say, about issues related to the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and the release of information and prior notification, but it's just more a broad point about the need to be transparent about information as related to your military capabilities," Psaki said.

 

At another news conference, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Force Development Christine Wormuth said the US pays close attention to China's military modernisation and the general trends and directions in China's military development.

 

"I think it's our view that we would like to see more transparency in terms of Chinese intentions behind the various elements of its modernisation and certainly in our bilateral discussions with China have emphasised that we'd like to see more transparency," he told reporters at the Washington Foreign Press Center.

 

"I think an important part of gaining that transparency is having a truly sustained and robust military-to-military dialogue with China and having a good set of senior leader exchanges. And we've put a lot of emphasis on those," he said.

 

Observing that the re-balance to Asia-Pacific is a very important part of the American strategy, Wormuth said this is not an effort to contain China.

 

"We see ourselves as a Pacific power, the United States. And we see a variety of opportunities in the region. It's a very dynamic area. Our trade relationships are growing there with a number of countries. Certainly we have a very deep trade relationship with China," he said.

 

"So I think it's important to be clear that the re-balance is not aimed at a particular country," he added.