* Beijing urges Obama administration to improve defence ties
BEIJING: China fears containment abroad and separatist groups at home, a defence policy paper said on Tuesday, justifying a drive to increase military spending and push the Peoples Liberation Army into the high-tech era.
Chinas security has been improving as its economy grows and the PLA embraces modernisation, the defence white paper said, but pro-independence forces in Taiwan, Tibet and the energy-rich western region of Xinjiang still pose threats to Chinas unity and security. On this issue, there can be no compromise and no concessions, Defence Ministry chief spokesman Hu Changming said at a news conference to launch the document.
China has pointed to its recent deployment of navy ships to police pirate-troubled seas off Africa as a sign of benign military intentions. But Chinas increased spending on arms has been criticised as opaque by other countries, including the United States and Japan. Beijing says its defence budget is purely for defensive purposes and is quite open, and it notes its budget is much smaller than the Pentagons.
China is faced with the superiority of developed countries economically, scientifically and technologically, as well as militarily, the 95-page white paper said. It also faces strategic manoeuvres and containment from the outside while having to face disruption and sabotage by separatist and hostile forces from the inside. The US Defence Department budget for fiscal 2009 is $515 billion, a 7.5 percent rise on the previous year. That number does not include separate multi-billion dollar outlays for Iraq and Afghanistan and some spending on nuclear weapons.
Chinas defence budget for 2009 has not been released. In 2008, the government said it would spend 418 billion yuan ($61 billion) on defence, up 17.6 percent on 2007. A PLA officer said more development was needed. Our militarys general levels of armaments have made big strides, Fan Jianjun of the PLA armaments department told the news conference. But theres still quite a large gap with the levels of the worlds developed countries, and we still cannot fully adjust to the needs of protecting national security and unity and better fulfilling our international duties.
While it said relations with Taiwan had taken a significantly positive turn, the paper denounced US arms sales to the island as causing serious harm to Sino-US relations as well as peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Hu said China and Taiwan had entered a period of peaceful development and called for improved military ties with the United States under Barack Obama. But he deflected a question on whether China had reduced the number of missiles aimed at Taiwan. Our countrys military deployments are based on national security interests, the imperatives of our fundamental interests as a nation and our core national interests, Hu said. China said its military modernisation would focus on upgrading technology to maintain a lean and effective deterrent force, a programme it saw being more or less finished by the middle of the century.
Ties under Obama: Hu said China would welcome better military ties with the United States after Barack Obama enters the White House, saying it was up to the Pentagon to lift obstacles to exchanges. In this new period, we hope that China and the United States will strive together to create favourable conditions to promote the constant improvement and development of ties between our militaries, Hu said. With ties between the two militaries facing hardships, we ask the US Defence Department to remove obstacles to these ties and take effective actions to create conditions for the healthy development of these ties. reuters