,
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice played down concerns over the spread of Chinese influence around the globe, saying it was better for China to have friends in the world than enemies.
“I don't see any of this as zero sum,” Rice told the Singapore Straits Times newspaper in an interview, a transcript of which was released by the State Department on Thursday.
Rice was responding to a question on China's growing power and relations with nations from Asia to Africa, notably following a summit of 48 African leaders in Beijing last week that highlighted the Asian giant's deepening economic and political ties with the resource-rich continent.
“I'd like to have China have friends in the world, it's better than having China have enemies in the world,” said Rice.
“There have been times when we worried about the opposite — that China would be a destabilizing factor in the world,” she said.
“So I would rather see a China that is trying to reach out, that's trying to have friendships around the world.”
Rice visited Beijing two weeks ago and praised the Chinese for their leading role in nudging North Korea back to multilateral negotiations aimed at getting Pyongyang to give up its newly proven nuclear arsenal.
“We have excellent relations with China,” she said.
But 10 days ahead of an Asian summit at which President George W. Bush will meet his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, Rice said Washington still harbored concerns about China's role.
“China has to be responsible in its engagement with the world because it is a big power, it's not just a developing country,” she said.
Rice specifically echoed concerns that China's engagement with African countries can be overly focused on gaining resources and markets without adequately addressing issues of governance and human rights.
“It needs to take responsibility in Africa, not just to seek resources but also to contribute to the development of Africa and so that people's lives are better,” she said.
She also said there were “some aspects of China's external policies that are not very positive.”
She mentioned difficulties on intellectual property rights, “an outsized military buildup of Chinese forces” that is worrying Beijing's neighbors and human rights concerns inside the country.
“China, of course, needs also in terms of its own domestic transition to respond to the natural desires of people for human rights and for religious freedom,” she said.
