Secretary of the US Navy Donald Winter has said that the US would like the Chinese Navy to be more transparent and engage with world community in appropriate and commercial manner.
New Delhi, Mar 29 : Secretary of the US Navy Donald Winter has said that the US would like the Chinese Navy to be more transparent and engage with world community in appropriate and commercial manner.
Winter, who is on a three-day visit to India, said the US will continue to watch both developments in the Chinese fleet and its deployment with lot of interest. He hoped that China would join the community of free countries and engage in seas in an appropriate and commercial manner.
"Our desire is to have greater degree of transparency with China. Our concerns are simply that in many cases where we know what they are doing in terms of making significant investments in their naval fleet, we are not sure, and do not understand why they are doing it. And without that understanding why they are doing it, it becomes very difficult for us to know exactly how to interpret and how to deal with whatever consequences might come from it," Winter said in a news conference here on Friday.
The American Navy Secretary's visit to New Delhi comes a month after USefence Secretary Robert Gates toured India.
China and the United States have long sparred over the nature of China's military development, with Washington saying it is trying to project its growing power and Beijing maintaining that its armed forces are geared for self-defence only.
The Chinese navy is rapidly modernizing and transforming from a coastal force into a bluewater naval power with more than 20 new amphibious assault ships and nuclear-powered attack submarines.
A new type of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine equipped with sea-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles is currently undergoing sea trials.
ANI