From the International Herald Tribune:
It was a kinder, gentler Donald Rumsfeld who emerged at this year’s annual gathering of senior Asia-Pacific defense officials in Singapore recently. Press coverage of the U.S. defense secretary’s speech focused on his criticism of Iran as a “terrorist nation.” But the real story was his tempered, more nuanced discussions about a rising China.
In his remarks on June 3, only one short paragraph in a four-page prepared text referred to China. Rumsfeld first praised China’s “great potential” and its “strong economic growth,” but then cautioned that “there are aspects of China’s actions that can complicate their relationships with other nations. The lack of transparency with respect to their military investments understandably causes concerns for some of its neighbors.”
That was it. Beyond this, Rumsfeld largely stressed the positive. [Full text]
