China defense chief says military buildup no threat to the world

[UmarJustice]

China's military buildup poses no threat to the world, Defense Minister Liang Guanglie said on Tuesday, in an effort to allay fears among Asian neighbors amid long-running maritime disputes.

The United States, Japan and many other Southeast Asian states have frequently expressed worries about China's double-digit defense spending increases and expanding naval reach, saying Beijing's plans lack transparency.

"There is absolutely no need for that," Liang told Reuters, when asked about neighbors' concerns.

"The Chinese military must develop, but there's no 'worry' or 'fear' as the outside world says," he said before a meeting with visiting U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. "That's not what China is about."

China's growing military influence has coincided with a more assertive diplomatic tone, evident in rows with Japan and Southeast Asia over disputed islands. China has also told the United States, with President Barack Obama's "pivot" to Asia, not to get involved.

Liang, speaking at China's Defense Ministry, stressed the need for cooperation between Beijing and Washington, which has called on China to share more about its military ambitions.

"We should develop the ties between us, between our two militaries, touch on some of our differences, resolve conflicting views," Liang said before meeting Mabus.

"We should push forward the development of our two powers, and push forward the development of a new China-U.S. military relationship," he said. "Our two countries' ties are very important."

The modernization of China's army in particular has raised concern in the region. China's People's Liberation Army, which encompasses all branches of the military, has launched a new wave of technology and hardware this year.

It has test-flown its first two stealth fighters, and launched its first aircraft carrier, which it bought from Ukraine and refurbished. This month, it unveiled a new attack helicopter.

China has also been raising its profile in the South and East China Seas this year, reasserting its sovereignty over islands or waters also claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan and others.

China ushered in a new generation of leaders this month at the 18th Communist Party Congress in Beijing, with outgoing President Hu Jintao making a pointed reference to strengthening China's naval forces, protecting maritime interests and the need to "win local war".

Both Vietnam and the Philippines have previously complained about Chinese activity and even harassment in contested parts of the South China Sea.

China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan all claim territory in the sea, which covers important shipping routes and is thought to hold untapped oil and gas reserves.

China's claim is by far the largest, forming a vast U-shape over most of the sea's 648,000 square miles (1.7 million square km), including the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos.

Sino-Japanese relations are also under strain after the Japanese government bought disputed islands, triggering violent protests and calls for boycotts of Japanese products across China.

China defense chief says military buildup no threat to the world | Reuters

 

[Hellraiser007]

Asian countries around china needs to be very careful from now

 

[rcrmj]

yeah sure.



agree with ya. Tell that to ur general.

kid, reality and politics are two different things``I am talking about reality whereas the general is 'talking' politics

 

[ahfatzia]

Japan Is Flexing Its Military Muscle to Counter a Rising China


TOKYO — After years of watching its international influence eroded by a slow-motion economic decline, the pacifist nation of Japan is trying to raise its profile in a new way, offering military aid for the first time in decades and displaying its own armed forces in an effort to build regional alliances and shore up other countries’ defenses to counter a rising China.

Already this year, Japan crossed a little-noted threshold by providing its first military aid abroad since the end of World War II, approving a $2 million package for its military engineers to train troops in Cambodia and East Timor in disaster relief and skills like road building. Japanese warships have not only conducted joint exercises with a growing number of military forces in the Pacific and Asia, but they have also begun making regular port visits to countries long fearful of a resurgence of Japan’s military.

And after stepping up civilian aid programs to train and equip the coast guards of other nations, Japanese defense officials and analysts say, Japan could soon reach another milestone: beginning sales in the region of military hardware like seaplanes, and perhaps eventually the stealthy diesel-powered submarines considered well suited to the shallow waters where China is making increasingly assertive territorial claims.

Taken together those steps, while modest, represent a significant shift for Japan, which had resisted repeated calls from the United States to become a true regional power for fear that doing so would move it too far from its postwar pacifism. The country’s quiet resolve to edge past that reluctance and become more of a player comes as the United States and China are staking their own claims to power in Asia, and as jitters over China’s ambitions appear to be softening bitterness toward Japan among some Southeast Asian countries trampled last century in its quest for colonial domination.

The driver for Japan’s shifting national security strategy is its tense dispute with China over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that is feeding Japanese anxiety that the country’s relative decline — and the financial struggles of its traditional protector, the United States — are leaving Japan increasingly vulnerable.

“During the cold war, all Japan had to do was follow the U.S.,” said Keiro Kitagami, a special adviser on security issues to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. “With China, it’s different. Japan has to take a stand on its own.”

Japan’s moves do not mean it might transform its military, which serves a purely defensive role, into an offensive force anytime soon. The public has resisted past efforts by some politicians to revamp Japan’s pacifist constitution, and the nation’s vast debt will limit how much military aid it can extend.

But it is also clear that attitudes in Japan are evolving as China continues its double-digit annual growth in military spending and asserts that it should be in charge of the islands that Japan claims, as well as vast swaths of the South China Sea that various Southeast Asian nations say are in their control.

Japanese leaders have met the Chinese challenge over the islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China with an uncharacteristic willingness to push back, and polls show the public increasingly agrees. Both major political parties are also talking openly about instituting a more flexible reading of the constitution that would allow Japan to come to the defense of allies — shooting down any North Korean missile headed for the United States, for instance — blurring the line between an offensive and defensive force.

The country’s self-defense forces had already begun nosing over that line in Iraq and Afghanistan, where Japan backed the United States-led campaigns by deploying naval tankers to refuel warships in the Indian Ocean.

Japanese officials say their strategy is not to begin a race for influence with China, but to build up ties with other nations that share worries about their imposing neighbor. They acknowledge that even building the capacity of other nations’ coast guards is a way of strengthening those countries’ ability to stand up to any Chinese threat.

full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/w...ional-military-role.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0


With neighbor and her backer like these there's no need for any explanation.

 

[帅的一匹]

General Liang is right, we are peace seeker by rebalancing those villains in the world.

 

[S10]

Asian countries around china needs to be very careful from now

Just Japan, Vietnam and Philippines. The rest we're happy to get along with.

 

[Oldman1]

Just Japan, Vietnam and Philippines. The rest we're happy to get along with.

Don't forget TAIWAN!

 

[S10]

Don't forget TAIWAN!

Taiwan is already so economically dependent on us that I doubt military force would be need.

 

[Oldman1]

Taiwan is already so economically dependent on us that I doubt military force would be need.

So you say. Have you guys stopped pointing missiles at them based on that assessment?

 

[Che Guevara]

Every time they say something like this, they are up-to something dangerous...Be careful India and ASEAN country.......

 

[beijingwalker]

Taiwan is also part of China,not PRC but ROC,the key word for both is China.

Every time they say something like this, they are up-to something dangerous...Be careful India and ASEAN country.......

the strength of a country's military might eventually always boils down to their economy,if you really care about the military,take care of your economy first.

 

[S10]

So you say. Have you guys stopped pointing missiles at them based on that assessment?

Let's just call that a fail-safe, in case they go full retard. Remember, no armstice has been signed between the two sides since the civil war, thus we're still technically at war.

 

[Obambam]

These days you only hear two types of stories about China:

1) Big evil China is going to taking over the world.
2) China cannot make quality military equipments and lacks experience.

I think the world is worrying too much over nothing. They can simply buy more weapons from the USA and be safe and sound.

 

[dreamer53320]

Let's just call that a fail-safe, in case they go full retard. Remember, no armstice has been signed between the two sides since the civil war, thus we're still technically at war.

haha, I like how you use "go full retard" to describe, very suiting . And yeah, two sides are technically still in a civil war state. Mainland recently had offered (hinted) a possible peace treaty, however, Taiwan has been resisting not to go forward with it.......

this is a bit ironic, so on the one hand, our politicians are yelling "omg, they are evil, 1000+ missiles pointing at us", but on the other hand, they don't really want total peace because that would eliminate the room for manipulation of fear, hate, and divide.

 

[S10]

haha, I like how you use "go full retard" to describe, very suiting . And yeah, two sides are technically still in a civil war state. Mainland recently had offered (hinted) a possible peace treaty, however, Taiwan has been resisting not to go forward with it.......

this is a bit ironic, so on the one hand, our politicians are yelling "omg, they are evil, 1000+ missiles pointing at us", but on the other hand, they don't really want total peace because that would eliminate the room for manipulation of fear, hate, and divide.

Everytime I watch Taiwan politician speak or their TV political talk shows, I felt like I lost 10 points of IQ. While I like democracy, I am thankful Mainland is not run by these clowns in Taiwan.