US seeks more defence transparency from China

The US would like China to be more transparent about its military program in the coming years, a top Pentagon official said.

The US would like China to be more transparent about its military programme in the coming years, a top Pentagon official said.

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In a reference to a Pentagon strategy paper published on Friday, Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Ryan Henry on Wednesday said that, as one of the major emerging powers, "China has the greatest potential to compete militarily with the US."

"One of the things that we think that would help with the Chinese is a degree of transparency. It is difficult to know exactly what they are doing," he told journalists, citing China's growing budget and military capabilities.

"It looks like they are preparing for something other than a political solution to the Taiwan problem. And we find that disconcerting," he added.

"What we are looking for is dialogue and transparency so that they can understand what we are doing, we can better understand what they are doing," Henry said.