A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Thursday that he hoped the United States, Japan and Australia would make more efforts to promote trust, peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Spokesman Qin Gang made the remark when asked to comment on the three-way talks among the three countries, which reports said would mainly talk about China's military build-up and China-Japan relations.

Qin urged the countries concerned to view China's military issue objectively. "China advocates the new security concept of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation."

Qin said China has taken appropriate and feasible measures to make its military expenditure transparent, including publishing a white paper on national defense regularly and a white paper on arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, giving a detailed explanation of China's military expenditure and build-up.

"We hope that the countries in the Asia-Pacific region will increase mutual trust, cooperation and consultation to jointly maintain the regional security and stability," the spokesman said.

Source: Xinhua