Singapore ? Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld said Saturday that U.S. pressure for political and economic change in China was not intended to undermine the Beijing government.

He criticized China for increasing military spending despite the absence of a threat from another country and said the Asian power risks diminishing its global influence unless it opens up its political system.

Political and economic freedom are in China’s best interests, the U.S. defense secretary said.

“The implication that freedom means destabilization, I believe, is incorrect,” Rumsfeld said in response to a question from a participant in an Asian security conference.

Conveying a hard line from the Bush administration, Rumsfeld used his keynote speech to challenge China’s military buildup and urge political change.

“Economic success depends on increasingly freer economic systems. That will put pressure on a political system that is less free,” Rumsfeld said. “The task for China is to resolve that issue.”

Rumsfeld said the Pentagon’s annual assessment of China’s military capabilities shows China now has the world’s third-largest military budget, behind the U.S. and Russia. He did not say how large the U.S. believes China’s military budget is.

A report last month by a U.S. think tank put China’s military spending between $69 billion and $78 billion a year, estimated in 2001 U.S. dollars. That ranges between 2.3 percent and 2.8 percent of China’s gross domestic product, according to the RAND Corp. That compares with the $430 billion spent by the U.S. on defense in 2004 – 3.9 percent of the country’s GDP.

Cui Tiankai, the director of the Asia bureau of China’s foreign ministry, was in the audience for Rumsfeld’s speech. He questioned Rumsfeld afterward.

“Do you truly believe that China is under no threat by other countries?” Cui asked. “Do you truly believe that the U.S. is threatened by the emergence of China?”

Rumsfeld said he does not think any country threatens China and that the U.S. does not view China as a threat. But he did question why China has stationed hundreds of missiles within range of Taiwan.

“I just look at the significant rollout of ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan and I have to ask the question: If everyone agrees the question of Taiwan is going to be settled in a peaceful way, why this increase in ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan?” Rumsfeld said.

China has said it will attack Taiwan if the self-governing island tries to declare formal independence. China repeatedly has urged the U.S. to stop selling weapons to Taiwan, which Beijing views as a renegade province that must be reabsorbed by the mainland.

This year, China denounced a joint U.S.-Japan statement that said the two allies shared the objective of a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue.

The U.S. wants the European Union to keep in place its ban on selling weapons to China. Washington argues that any European weapons sold to China could be used against Taiwan.