China and U.S. must cooperate, Clinton says

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Former U.S. president Bill Clinton
said on Monday that while there were concerns in the United
States over China’s military buildup, it would be “idiotic” for
both sides to pursue anything but peace.

“We will find that our economic relations and our security
relations and our interests … will be so great that we will
be working together,” Clinton told a business audience in Hong
Kong.

“It is idiotic to contemplate a future that is anything
other than one of cooperation between China and the U.S. for
future prosperity. But on the other hand, it will be foolish
not to prepare for the worst.”

Apart from months of bitter wrangling between the two
countries over textiles, energy, Chinese counterfeiting and
China’s exchange rate policies, fears are also growing in
Washington over the recent overhaul of the Chinese military.

China’s defense budget has been growing in double digits
almost every year, outpacing its rapid economic growth.

The Pentagon said in a report in July it was concerned
about China’s military modernization and economic might and
feared that a changing balance of power in Asia could threaten
self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own.