White rice is a starch, which is a complex carb, and does not have "a nutrition profile closely related to table sugar." Other than that, this is on-target. All of longest-lived populations eat primarily carb-based diets.
White rice has a GI of 64 and is essentially a pure carbohydrate. Table sugar has a GI of 68 and is a pure carbohydrate. The two have very similar behavior in the body, so while they may be compositionally very different, as an energy source and insulin response source they are almost interchangeable, no?
There's no fructose in white rice and fructose has virtually no GI (GI being a measure of glucose). Table sugar may have the same glucose load as white rice, but by weight it contains an equal amount of fructose thats headed straight to the liver.
I'm not sure what you think those links demonstrate: Do you suppose that someone makes a choice between a cup of sugar/syrup/etc, or a cup of prepared rice (ergo, 75% water)?
White rice is 90%+ very simple carbohydrates. It has a glycemic impact on your body extremely similar to straight sugar, from a gram to gram (of carbs) perspective. Now as the other poster mentioned there's the matter of fructose, though that is an area that has a little too much pseudo-science right now (it has become the new boogyman).