Australian Prime Minister John Howard(L) and US Vice President Dick Cheney(R) hold a joint press conference at the PM's office in Sydney. Cheney wrapped up a week-long visit to Japan and Australia, a mission to reassure two strong allies buffeted by Washington's strategies for Iraq and North Korea. Photo courtesy AFP
China Military Capabilities Worrisome
Washington (AFP) Feb 23 - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed concern Friday over China's developing military capabilities and the ease with which military spending can be hidden from public view. Gates' brief comments in response to reporters questions followed Vice President Dick Cheney's warning in Australia that China's rapid military build-up was "not consistent with China's goal of a peaceful rise."
"There are developments underway with respect to Chinese military capabilities that are a concern," said Gates, without elaborating. In a speech in Sydney, Cheney singled out a recent anti-satellite test in which China used a ballistic missile to destroy one of its own weather satellites in space. A former Soviet analyst and director of the CIA, Gates likened the problem of assessing China's military spending to that of tracking Soviet military spending during the Cold War.
"In the absence of congressional oversight, it's pretty easy for other states to disguise exactly how much they are spending on their military forces. This obviously was a huge problem with the Soviet Union," he said. "My suspicion is that the Chinese are spending more on their military than what will be reflected in the state budget," he said.
