China Increasing Forces, Concealing Military Budget

The annual report that the Pentagon submitted to Congress reveals that China is seeking to acquire weapons and technology to reduce the traditional advantages of American power, asserting that the secrecy of China’s forces is an opportunity for abuse of power on both sides. The report, entitled “Military strength of People’s Republic of China for the year 2009,” exposes China’s efforts to supply its armed forces with weapons that could be used to intimidate and attack Taiwan and challenge the U.S. navy and air force excellence spotted near Chinese territories.

Pentagon spokesman Jeffrey Morel said, “We have argued in the past and still asking for further dialogue and more transparency in dealing with the government and the Chinese army, which is a part of efforts to reduce the uncertainty by both sides.”

He added that the report should be viewed as an invitation “to a deeper and a broader communication at the highest level with the Chinese side.” The report presents how the Chinese military modernized over the past year, with a special focus on Taiwan, which China regards as a separated territory. The report notes that China has set up a missile system facing Taiwan, but concludes that relations between the two sides have eased in the last year. The report also indicates that China cannot distribute or instruct even a small number of combat units beyond its borders before 2015.

China protested against the continuing military threat theory and strongly protested the report, considering it interference in its internal affairs.

Quoted by the New China News Agency “Xinhua”, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said, “We delivered our plain protest to the U.S. government… The report disseminates the Chinese military threat theory continuation in a serious distortion of facts; which also considered interfering in its internal affairs. China is consistently adhered to the path based on peaceful development and is pursuing a national defense policy of a pure defensive in nature.”

Gang pointed out that China is devoting its efforts to safeguard the international peace and stability. He added, “We urge the U.S. side to respect this basic fact.”

The Chinese official said, “The United States must get rid of cold war and prejudice notions, stop issuing such untrue reports of the Chinese army, and stop playing the blame game to avoid further harm that might affect the relations between the two countries.”

The U.S. report assures that China will not be able to deploy or maintain a large number of its troops in combat operations in areas far away from China until the next decade.

He pointed out that Chinese troops seemed to adopt updated programs that include the ability to fight and win small conflicts using modern weapons near to the Chinese territories.

The report notes that, in order to reduce traditional advantages of the United States, China has invested in new technologies in space and electronic war, as well as updating its nuclear arsenal and missile. He pointed out that the Chinese military is also expanding and improving their submarines fleets that are equipped with ballistic missiles. Also, China hopes to build a number of aircraft carriers.

The military budget:

The report shows China’s secrecy. It says that China needs to practice transparency, especially in its military budget. The Chinese military budget has doubled since 2000 from $27.9 billion to $60.1 billion.

U.S. officials believe that the Chinese do not honestly declare the full amount spent on security. Therefore, they believe that the military budget for 2008 was between $105 and $150 billion. The report reviews what the Chinese army did for relief and rescue missions. During the period from 2002 to 2007 the army participated in 14 search and rescue missions. They also participated in 10 emergency relief missions in 14 countries.

It points out that China sold $7 billion in traditional weapons to countries around the world, mostly Pakistan, from 2003 to 2007.

Notably enough, military relations between the United States and China reached peak levels before declining recently.

On the other hand, relations have begun to recover after Beijing’s anger in reaction to the sale of $6 billion in advanced weapons to Taiwan.