‘Lack of transparency’: US snipes at China’s defence budget boost

Commander of America’s Asia-based Seventh Fleet warns of ‘angst’ in the region as the USS Carl Vinson becomes the first US aircraft carrier to berth in Vietnam since 1975

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Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson arrives in Da Nang, Vietnam. Photo: US Navy

Published: 4:58pm, 6 Mar 2018Updated: 12:08am, 7 Mar 2018

“Lack of transparency”. That was the oblique buzz phrase on the lips of a top US naval officer on Tuesday when pressed on whether China’s largest defence spending increase in three years was of concern.

Accompanying the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson’s highly symbolic visit to Vietnam, Vice Admiral Phillip Sawyer, commander of the Asia-based Seventh Fleet, used the term repeatedly to respond to questions about China, including Monday’s revelation that Beijing was boosting defence spending by 8.1 per cent.

Vice Admiral Phillip Sawyer, Commander of the US Navy’s 7th Fleet, greets Vietnamese officials after the US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson pulled into port in Da Nang. Photo: US Navy

“I really can’t speak to the numbers that are published on somebody else’s defence budget. What I can speak to is … about transparency,” the three star admiral said in a telephone interview with regional journalists.

“Lack of transparency causes angst and that is certainly here in the region, and that is potentially disruptive to security and stability and the free flow of commerce and trade,” Sawyer said.

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