China Denounces U.S. Report on Military
By JOE McDONALD
Associated Press Writer
BEIJING (AP) -- China denounced a U.S. government report that
Beijing wants to expand its regional military power, insisting
Wednesday it is no threat to its neighbors and accusing Washington
of looking for excuses to sell weapons to rival Taiwan.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it filed a protest with the U.S.
Embassy in Beijing over the Pentagon report.
"The report has baselessly attacked China's modernization of its
national defense," Deputy Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in a
statement, accusing Washington of looking for "an excuse to sell
advanced weapons to Taiwan."
The Pentagon report said Chinese military planners are looking at
expanding beyond their immediate goal of dominating Taiwan, the
self-ruled island claimed by Beijing as its own territory. It said
that in the long term, an increasingly modern Chinese military
could pose a threat to U.S. and other forces.
"Some of China's military planners are surveying the strategic
landscape beyond Taiwan," said the 45-page annual assessment of
China's military strength.
Earlier Thursday, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said China is intent
on "developing in a peaceful way" when asked about the U.S.
report.
"Not only is China not a threat to anyone, but we would also like
to make friends with people in every country, work together and
develop mutually beneficial cooperation in order to facilitate
everyone's progress," Li said.
Asian governments from Japan to Southeast Asia to India worry about
Beijing's growing military power, driven by a booming economy and
double-digit annual spending increases.
China's military spending already is the world's third-highest at
$50 billion to $70 billion a year, behind only the United States
and Russia, the Pentagon report said.
Yang criticized that comparison, noting that spending on China's
2.5 million-member People's Liberation Army is far below the
Pentagon's $400 billion-a-year budget.
"The United States is not qualified to criticize China's defensive
national defense policy," Yang's statement said.
He said the report was "meticulously planned" by the Pentagon to
spread fear of China and warned Washington not to encourage
activists on Taiwan who want formal independence.
Beijing is modernizing its arsenal with fighter jets, submarines,
missiles and other high-tech weapons - many of them bought from
Russia - to back up its frequent threats to attack Taiwan.
But a senior Pentagon official said although China's military might
is growing, he sees no reason to think that Beijing is interested
in starting a war.
"You judge military threat in two ways: one, capacity and two,
intent. There's lots of countries in the world that have the
capacity to wage war," said Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"Very few have the intent to do so. Clearly, we have a complex, but
good relationship with China, so there's absolutely no reason for
us to believe there's any intent on their part."
China's short-term goal remains deterring Taiwan from pursuing
formal independence and eventually uniting the island with the
mainland, the Pentagon report said. Taiwan and China split in 1949,
but Beijing claims the self-ruled island as its own
territory.
The United States has cautioned both governments not to force a
change in the status quo.
Washington has no official ties with Taiwan but is the democratic
island's main arms supplier and could be drawn into any fighting
with the communist mainland.
Yang's statement affirmed that Beijing wants to unite peacefully
with Taiwan. But he also repeated its warning that Beijing "will
never tolerate Taiwan independence and will never allow anyone in
any way to split Taiwan from China."
