China increases military spending 17.8%

[Martin]

Sometimes I ponder who we should be more concerned about... Al-Qaeda or China ?


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070304/...ina_politics_2

China to increase military spending

By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer Sun Mar 4, 10:09 AM ET

BEIJING - China will boost military spending by 17.8 percent this year, a spokesman for the national legislature said Sunday, continuing more than a decade of double-digit annual increases that have raised concerns among the United States and China's neighbors.

John Negroponte, the U.S. deputy secretary of state, urged China to be more open about its military buildup.

"We think it's important in our dialogue that we understand what China's plans and intentions are," said Negroponte, who was visiting Beijing on Sunday.

Underscoring the concerns about China's military, the legislature's spokesman, Jiang Enzhu, also accused the president of Taiwan of manipulating political divisions there to steer it toward formal independence. China's military spending is largely oriented toward possible conflicts over Taiwan, which split with the mainland in 1949 and has refused Beijing's offers for peaceful reunification.

Jiang said Taiwanese voters would abandon President Chen Shui-bian, whose pro-independence stance has drawn criticism from China.

"His manipulation of political issues, his attempt to exaggerate or exacerbate tensions among different communities on the island and his selfish agenda ... have been condemned by various political groups and parties as well as the general public in Taiwan," Jiang said at a news conference at the Great Hall of the People, where the legislature, formally known as the National People's Congress, will begin its 12-day session on Monday.

However, Jiang said the $44.94 billion military budget would mainly be spent on boosting wages and living allowances for members of the armed forces and on upgrading armaments "to enhance the military's ability to conduct defensive operations."

"China is committed to taking the path of peaceful development and it pursues a defensive military posture," Jiang said. "China has neither the wherewithal or the intention to enter into an arms race with any country and China does not and will not pose a threat to any country."

The 2007 budget marks an increase of $6.84 billion over last year. With its economy booming, China has announced double-digit annual increases in military spending every year since the early 1990s.

China's 2.3 million-strong military is the world's largest. The
Pentagon believes China's total military spending may be much greater since the announced budget does not include weapons purchases and other key items.

Jiang defended spending as "quite modest" compared to what is spent by Britain, France, Japan, and the United States, where
President Bush signed a bill authorizing $532.8 billion in military spending for the 2007 fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

"This increase is compensatory in nature in order to make up for the weak national defense foundation of our country," Jiang said.

In the past, Beijing has spent heavily on adding submarines, jet fighters and other high-tech weapons to its arsenal, which despite its size, lags well behind those of other major nations.

We are now finding out that Rumsfeld wasn't off his rocker after all. Cheney has also been trying to raise the world's awareness about the Chinese military build-up.

There are millions of single men due to the old one-child policy who will never find a mate.

What better use for them than to use them for military goals?

[DansDarkSide]

Seriously if we don't get our economy to at least half of what it was in the 50s, China will soon be more powerful then us, economically and militarily(if thats a word)

Dans wrote: Seriously if we don't get our economy to at least half of what it was in the 50s...

The post-war boom that we enjoyed was due to the fact that Europe and Asia's industrial base (recall Japan's savage destruction of China in the 30's) was destroyed by the war and it took 35-40 years for them to get back on their feet.

The demand for our products by the rest of the world was an artificial advantage based on Europe and Asia not being able to produce for themselves, thus leaving us the only game in town so to speak. While our industrial base was left intact after WW2, such was not the case for Europe and Japan.

Now that the Asian countries have re-built their industrial base (and along with the labor advantage they enjoy due to their abundant population) they have re-gained the ground they would have had if it hadn't been for WW2.

In short, while we thought we would have an indefinate economic advantage partly due to the war, partly due to the folly of the communist economic system, the fact is that once Mao passed and the failure of the Soviet system happened, they finally caught on to capitalism and are now giving us a run for our money. (no pun intended)

[waltky]

China rattlin' its saber...

China Lashes Out at Taiwan's UN Push, Proposed US Arms Sale
September 17, 2007 - Beijing stepped up its Taiwan rhetoric over the weekend, condemning the island's leader for promoting a referendum on joining the United Nations and criticizing Washington for new plans to sell weaponry to Taipei clearly intended to defend it against potential Chinese attack.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the proposed arms sales constituted wanton interference in China's internal affairs and violated commitments the U.S. had made in joint communiques in the 1980s. The Xinhua news agency quoted her as describing the current situation across the Taiwan Strait as "complicated and sensitive" and saying the U.S. should stop sending "wrong signals" to secessionist elements in Taiwan.

Last Wednesday, the Pentagon's arms-sales agency -- the Defense Security and Cooperation Agency -- announced plans to sell Taiwan 12 P-3C Orion anti-submarine aircraft and SM-2 Standard missiles for its Navy destroyers "for self-defense against air and cruise missile threats." The combined value of the sale could be as high as $2.2 billion, it said.

Pentagon reports say the primary threat facing Taiwan comes from the communist-ruled mainland, which has vowed to use force if necessary to prevent the island -- a rebel province, in its view -- from formally breaking away. China is reported to have deployed more than 1,000 missiles along its coastline opposite Taiwan in recent years.

Although the U.S. cut normal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979 in favor of the People's Republic of China (PRC), it is committed under the Taiwan Relations Act passed that same year to protect the island from unprovoked aggression and provide it with military assistance.

MORE

[waltky]

China building sophisticated military...

China's defense hikes not whole story: Gates
Friday, March 7, 2008 - China's announced plans to increase its military budget by nearly 18 percent accounts for only part of its actual military spending, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.

He said the United States was concerned not just about Beijing's annual double-digit increases in declared military spending but also the programs that it sees China pursuing. "There's a wide range of activities underway," he told reporters. "And we think having an ongoing dialogue with them about the meaning of all that would be very useful."

China announced on Tuesday a 17.6 percent increase in defense spending to about US$57.2 billion in 2008, which followed a similar increase last year. Chinese officials said it was a moderate increase from a low base. "Part of the issue is what we don't know," Gates said. "I think that there's general agreement that the Chinese military budget that we see is only a portion of what the Chinese spend."

The Pentagon estimates China's military spending in 2007 was between US$97 and US$139 billion, well in excess of Beijing's official budgeted figure of US$45 billion. In an annual report to Congress released Monday, the Pentagon said China was fielding and developing an array of modern weapons and military capabilities that were altering regional military balances and have global implications.

It raised concerns about a Chinese anti satellite test in January 2007, and cyberwarfare capabilities. The report said China has fielded new intercontinental ballistic missiles, acquired cruise and ballistic missiles capable of striking U.S. aircraft carriers from long distances, and continued a steady buildup of short-range missiles opposite Taiwan.

MORE

[waltky]

Let's see how this turns out, before we go sellin' `em weapons that may end up in the hands of China...

State Department Holds $12 Billion Weapons Sales To Taiwan
June 11, 2008 Washington, D.C. - The U.S. has frozen the sale of $12 billion worth of weapons to Taiwan as Washington gives way to peace talks between its Asian ally and China.

The department stopped congressional notifications on the weapons being sought by Taipei, a move that works as a freeze order on the arms sale, to also assure U.S. President George W. Bush's attendance in the opening ceremony of the Olympics games. The decision was pushed by some U.S. officials at the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, the report said.

However, the sale of 90 combat helicopters, eight submarines, four anti-missile batteries and 66 F-16 fighter planes to Taiwan may push through after the Beijing Oympics in August and before the inauguration of the new U.S. president, the Monday issue of Defense News cited sources at the U.S. State Department as saying.

State Department Holds $12 Billion Weapons Sales To Taiwan | AHN | June 11, 2008

See also:

Taiwan remains resolute over US weapon-systems procurement
06 June 2008 - Taiwan's new minister of defence has said defence build-up continues to be necessary, in spite of talks with mainland China

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) has said that recent "goodwill" gestures by Beijing towards the island "do not mean lasting peace across the Taiwan Strait" and that it will continue to develop its own weapons systems and procure high-technology systems from the United States.

Speaking at a Legislative Committee meeting on 4 June, the newly appointed Minister of Defence Chen Chao-min said that "Taiwan's defence build-up and battle readiness remain necessary" and that further military development remained "the basic action [Taiwan] must take". However, the MND chief said he hoped confidence-building measures could be established in order to avoid an "accidental conflict in the Taiwan Strait" and to achieve a lasting peace accord.

Chen's comments came a week after the 28 May meeting between Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung and China's President Hu Jintao in Beijing, at which China's leadership said that it would be willing to reduce the number of Dong Feng 11 and Dong Feng 15 short-range ballistic missiles - estimated at 1,400 - as well as its 200 cruise missiles targeting Taiwan.

Taiwan remains resolute over US weapon-systems procurement - Jane's Tri-Service News