“Very constructive.” That’s how Undersecretary of Defense Michele Flournoy characterized the 12th round of the US-China Defense Consultative Talks, which were held in Beijing on December 7th. “I don’t think there was any new ground broken,” she added, “but I think we had a good exchange of views.”

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Her counterpart in the discussions, General Ma Xiaotian, appeared a little less satisfied. The deputy chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army questioned Flournoy, the Pentagon’s policy chief, about many issues, but none more contentious than last month’s announcement, by President Obama and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, that the US would be rotating 2,500 Marines through the northern coastal city of Darwin. Chinese state media has portrayed that move as part of an effort to “encircle” China.

Flournoy, however, told the PLA not to worry. “We assured General Ma and his delegation that the US does not seek to contain China,” she said, referring to Beijing’s concerns about the Marines being based Down Under. “We do not view China as an adversary.” The Marines will be going to Australia, she mentioned, primarily to meet “non-traditional challenges.”

In her post-meeting remarks, Flournoy also mentioned she talked about “transparency between our two countries.” It’s good she raised the topic, because on this point she could learn something from her Chinese interlocutors. At the end of last month, for instance, they denounced the Obama-Gillard announcement, leaving no doubt how Beijing felt. And then the always interesting Major General Luo Yuan, asking the United States to explain its basing of troops in Australia, said this to the official China Daily: “The US has always asked China to be transparent about its strategy. It is the US who should make its intentions clear.”

If you’re a Chinese military planner, you could be forgiven if you thought that Flournoy was not being particularly candid. While the Marine Corps is preparing to station troops on Australian soil, Washington is busy strengthening defense ties with traditional allies, like Japan and the Philippines, as well as establishing relations with a former enemy, Vietnam. This is occurring while the US Navy is making plans to deploy to Singapore its new Littoral Combat Ships. And if all this were not bad enough, the Chinese have to wonder why the Pentagon would announce the “Air-Sea Battle” concept if it is not preparing to counter China.

Although the Obama administration, to its great credit, is “pivoting” toward Asia to counter Chinese expansionism, it is not ready to talk about what it is really doing. If Undersecretary Flournoy wonders why she did not make real progress in Beijing last week, it is because she was trying to deny the obvious to her Chinese hosts.

In the Cold War, the United States was forthright about its defense of freedom and free markets. Now, Washington has accepted the responsibility of maintaining peace and stability in Asia, but it cannot do so effectively without admitting why the American presence there is necessary in the first place.

We are enhancing our presence in Asia because Beijing seeks to control the land of others and to exercise dominion over the high seas and international airspace. The Chinese keep destabilizing the region, in part because they do not hear the United States in public say, in clear terms, that it opposes their ever-widening ambitions.