CHINA PRODDED TO RESPECT U.S. PRESENCE, POWER IN ASIA
Central News Agency
2005-06-28 22:25:39
Washington, June 27 (CNA) The U.S. does not fear China and has no intention of competing against China strategically, but it does hope China will respect America's power and presence in Asia, U.S. Under Secretary of State R. Nicholas Burns said in an interview Saturday with a New Delhi newspaper.
According to the pretext of the interview released by the State Department Monday, Burns told India's Star News that China should understand that the Asia-Pacific region has been secure, balanced and peaceful for the better part of the last 50 years, partly because of the positive influence of the United States and its military deployments in the region. "There is no question that the great majority of Asian countries want to see a continuation of American power and presence in the region because we are a force for stability and for peace," Burns said.
The United States does compete with China economically, but is otherwise seeking a peaceful relationship, Burns went on.
He shrugged off the question of whether Indian and Japan could be a counterbalance to China, saying that he cannot speak for the Indian government, but adding that the United Sates and India have emerged from a period when they held different views of the world and now they have a greater confluence of interests, which makes it possible for the emergence of a strategic partnership between them.
Burns visited New Delhi to work out the details of a forthcoming visit to Washington by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
(By Oliver Lin & Maubo Chang)
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