BEIJING, Oct. 21 -- The commander of China's nuclear missile forces told Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Wednesday that in an armed conflict China would not be the first to use nuclear weapons, according to the Associated Press.

Visiting US Defense Secretary Donald H. rumsfeld visits the Summer Palace on October 20, 2005. [newsphoto]

    Gen. Jing Zhiyuan, commander of the Second Artillery, which operates the country's arsenal of nuclear missiles, offered the assurance while hosting Rumsfeld as the first foreigner to visit his headquarters, according to two U.S. officials who participated in the meeting.

    The officials briefed reporters afterward only on condition of anonymity because of the visit's sensitivity. They said Jing told Rumsfeld no foreigner had entered the command headquarters in its 39-year history. Rumsfeld signed a large, new and otherwise empty guest book.

    The Chinese rejected a Rumsfeld request to visit their national military command center in the Western Hills.

    Jing disavowed a recent public suggestion by another Chinese general that the United States could be targeted for a nuclear strike if it intervened in a conflict over Taiwan.

    Rumsfeld aides who were present during the discussions quoted Jing as saying it was "completely groundless" to say China was targeting any country with its strategic nuclear forces.

Rumsfeld gives a speech to the students at the Military Science Academy in Beijing, on Thursday. [newsphoto]

    Jing's operations chief, Senior Col. Kang Hong Gui, gave Rumsfeld a briefing, complete with Microsoft PowerPoint graphics, on the command's structure and missile forces training, without details about the numbers of Chinese missiles.

    Later, in a meeting with Rumsfeld at the Great Hall of the People, President Hu Jintao said the visit to the Second Artillery headquarters and Rumsfeld's other discussions in Beijing will "help the military forces of our two countries to better enhance their mutual understanding and friendship."

    Hu and Rumsfeld also discussed President Bush's planned visit to Beijing in November, and they agreed to speed up plans to increase military educational exchanges, a goal Bush has endorsed.

    On his first visit to China as defense secretary, Rumsfeld delivered an address to the Central Party School and fielded questions from several students and faculty members.

    Chinese officials required U.S. reporters to leave the room after the initial exchange, as planned.

    Later, at a joint news conference at the Ministry of Defense, Rumsfeld's counterpart, Gen. Cao Gangchuan, said U.S.-China relations are strong, although he noted that it had been five years since an American secretary of defense visited China. He called Rumsfeld's visit a "big event."     

    Asked about the Pentagon's assertion in a report to Congress last July that China has vastly understated its defense spending, Cao said it would be "simply impossible" to increase the budget on the scale cited by the Pentagon because China is focusing its resources on fighting domestic poverty.     

Chinese Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission Guo Boxiong, right, shows the way to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, left, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Wednesday October 19, 2005. [AP]

    "It is not necessary and not possible, actually, for us to massively increase the defense budget," Cao said, speaking through an interpreter. He defended the accuracy of China's report that its 2005 defense budget is about $29 billion, compared with the $90 billion the Pentagon claims is the true figure.

    
Even calculating it at a more recent exchange rate, the budget comes to $30.2 billion, Cao said.

    "That is, indeed, the true budget we have today," he said.

    The atmosphere surrounding Rumsfeld's visit appeared friendly and optimistic, with Cao saying the two countries have a broad range of shared interests and a solid footing for building cooperation.

    Rumsfeld applauded China's dramatic economic successes, noting that when he first visited Beijing in 1974 as President Gerald R. Ford's chief of staff, the streets were filled with bicycles, not cars.

(Source: China Daily/AP)