SINGAPORE (AP) – US Defence Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld yesterday urged more transparency from China, Russia and North Korea, and also branded Iran as the world’s leading terrorist nation in comments at an Asian defence and security conference.

Addressing the same meeting, Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee vowed that his country would not export its democratic ideology to neighbouring military-ruled Myanmar nor seek involvement in Sri Lanka’s peace process.

The annual defence forum, the Shangri-La Dialogue, gathered delegates – including 17 defence ministers – from 23 mainly Asian nations, to address issues including the rise of China and India, US-Asia security relations, maritime security co-operation, counter-insurgency and regional security concerns.

“More nations are freer than ever before, yet freedom is increasingly under assault – by the designs of violent extremists and rogue regimes,” Rumsfeld said. “The way ahead for other nations will be something that our country will watch closely.”

He said that includes attempts by Russia to restrict the freedom of neighbouring countries, the continued lack of transparency in China’s military budget and threats by North Korea to pursue nuclear weapons.

Rumsfeld also seemed baffled by Russian and Chinese support for Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), a body devoted to combating terrorism, separatism and religious extremism.

“It strikes me as strange that one would want to bring into an organisation that says it is against terrorism, the leading terrorist nation in the world, Iran,” Rumsfeld said.

Iran, already an observer to the SCO, has applied for full membership to the group, which also includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been invited to attend this month’s annual SCO summit in Shanghai.

Iran’s participation in the SCO would be a particular irritant to the US, which views the group as a foil to Western influence in Central Asia and the presence of American bases there.

Later, India’s defence minister addressed other sensitive Asian issues, promising not to intervene in Myanmar nor Sri Lanka.

“It is for the people of the countries to decide what type of government they would like,” Mukherjee said in response to a question if India can help promote democracy in neighbouring military-ruled Myanmar.

“It is not only a question of Myanmar, but in many other countries, there are different types of governments. Our basic principle is to live in peaceful coexistence and we do not believe in exporting ideologies,” Mukherjee said.

Mukherjee also said India supports the peace process in Sri Lanka, where Tamil rebels are fighting the Sinhalese-dominated government for independence, but would maintain a hands-off approach.

“Sharing the same ethnic group, we believe our active participation (in the peace process) would complicate the issue instead of resolving it,” Mukherjee said, referring to India’s large ethnic Tamil population who may have sympathies for the Sri Lankan rebels. “But we stand fully behind the peace process.”

Mukherjee also defended India’s recent nuclear co-operation deal with the United States, which is awaiting US Congress approval.

The deal calls for the US to share civilian nuclear technology with India. Washington says the deal is a realistic effort to bring nuclear safeguards to a country determined to remain outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Critics fear the deal would dismantle the NPT and allow unfriendly countries to build nuclear weapons programmes using imported civilian nuclear technology.