ARAB-US RELATIONS - Mar 16 - Rice Steps Up Rhetoric Against 'Troubled State' Iran.

Condoleezza Rice raises the diplomatic temperature over the nuclear stand-off with Iran, accusing the country of lying about its activities and again calling it a "central banker to terrorism". The US State Sec was speaking in Sydney at the start of a three-day official visit to Australia, which will include talks with Canberra and Japan over the vexed Iranian issue. Rice described Iran as a "troubled state" where an "unelected few repress the desires of its population". She said the US would work through the UN in an attempt to force the Iranians to allow inspections of their nuclear facilities. Rice said: I'm quite certain that the [UN's] Security Council will find an appropriate vehicle for expressing again to the Iranians the demands of the international community". She also underscored America's concerns about the rapid development of China, urging Beijing to open up its economy and be "transparent" about the reasons for its military build-up, and acknowledged that the US-China relationship faced some "difficult issues". Ms Rice said: I heard that there is going to be a 14 per cent increase in the Chinese defence budget. That's a lot. China should undertake to be transparent about what their military build-up means". Qin Gang, Beijing's FM spokesperson, responded on Mar 16, saying: China has adopted a defensive national strategy - we have appropriate military transparency measures. "China regularly publishes white papers on national defence in detail. More important, our national defence policy is totally transparent - it's a defensive policy". Rice also called on China to have an open trading policy, citing concerns about intellectual property rights, the fixed currency and continued government ownership of large parts of the economy. On Mar 18 Rice will meet John Howard, the Australia PM, in Melbourne before returning to Sydney for trilateral security talks on Mar 18 with Alexander Downer and Taro Aso, her Australian and Japanese counterparts respectively. Rice said: The growth of the Chinese economy, if done in a rules-based way in which China is fully obeying the rules of the global economy, is a positive development for international growth and for the US". Downer this week distanced Australia from Rice's recent hawkish comments that China could become a "negative force" in the region. Standing alongside her in Sydney, Downer said: I think we feel comfortable with where the US is at in terms of its relationship with China. "Our relationship with China has its own dynamics. We have our own issues". Australia has been careful not to antagonise China, which it views as a huge economic opportunity. The two countries are negotiating a trade agreement and Canberra is poised to rubber-stamp the export of uranium to the Chinese mainland.