How Many Will Believe This Chinese Assurance?
China's military development is no threat to other nations and it will never join an arms race, a top-ranking Chinese army official said in an interview. The comments by Zhang Qinsheng, deputy chief of the general staff of the Chinese army, appear to address international concerns about China's military ambitions after it carried out an anti-satellite weapon test last month.
"The People's Liberation Army is actively pushing forward its modernisation process... however, the PLA shall never engage in an arms race, nor threaten any country," Lieutenant-General Zhang told China Daily. "We do not conceal our intention to build a strong and modern national defence. We also tell the world candidly that the Chinese defence policy is always defensive in nature."
He emphasised Beijing's long-held position that modernisation of its armed forces is aimed at defending national sovereignty, security and reunification -- a reference to Taiwan, which China insists is part of its territory. The two sides split amid civil wars in 1949 and China has repeatedly threatened to invade Taiwan should the island declare formal independence.
Last month's test, when a ballistic missile shot down an ageing satellite, made China only the third country in the world -- after the United States and the former Soviet Union -- to down an object in space. US trade official Christopher Padilla said in Beijing last week that the test and the general lack of transparency about China's military modernisation had contributed toward mistrust between the countries, citing it as a reason for tighter US rules on high-tech exports.
But Zhang said it was the lack of understanding and communication that had led to suspicions. "China has never joined any military alliance, never sought military expansion, nor built overseas military bases," he argued.
The Chinese army is taking "pro-active and pragmatic" measures to improve transparency, said Zhang, citing the release of five white papers on China's national defence policy since 1998. (Channel Newsasia)
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Labels: World News
posted by The Malaysian. at 2/03/2007 10:34:00 AM
2 Comments:
To be fair, China's military build-up is primarily focussed on giving it the capability to take back Taiwan by force if necessary e.g. if it declares independence.
To do that, it would also have to make the cost of any US military intervention too high. That's the catch, of course. To deter the giant US war machine would require serious firepower - advanced submarines, hi-tech fighters, accurate missiles, satellite killers. That kind of heavy hardware will appear very threatening to its neighbours.
My other worry about China is its political structure. China's economic progress is widely admired, but politically it is still an authoritarian state.
There are still many goons in power in Beijing and they can be pretty scary if you listen to what they have to say.
The world has been threatened by the sole superpower USA for too long. USA has unilaterally invaded other countries & those participating countries are only USA's lapdogs.
It's good to have more military powers to counter this imbalances. Russia, China, India & Brazil are go choices.
Why should we worry about China's rise in military power(later India or Brazil)? USA is the main culprit for the various wars raging in this world, either directly or indirectly.
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