China's military is ready to step up training and boost its ability to defend the nation's territory, a top army official said in remarks that were published yesterday, warning Taiwan against attempting to declare independence.
"We resolutely oppose `Taiwan independence' and will never allow `Taiwan independence' secessionist forces to make Taiwan secede from China under any name and by any means," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Guo Boxiong (
China stepped up its rhetoric against Taiwan after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) recently shut down a government body devoted to seeking unification with China.
Guo denounced Chen's move as a step toward independence, calling it a "grave provocation" that would seriously undermine peace and stability, Xinhua said.
"We will make utmost efforts with maximum sincerity to safeguard and promote peaceful and steady development of relations across the Taiwan Strait and seek peaceful reunification," Guo told a gathering of military delegates to China's parliament in Beijing.
Guo called on the 2.5 million-member army -- the world's largest -- to step up training and improve its combat capability to ensure it can "resolutely safeguard national security, reunification, and the integrity of China's territory," Xinhua said.
On Sunday, the government announced that its military budget will rise 14.7 percent this year to 283.8 billion yuan (US$35.3 billion).
Military delegates to the parliament complained that the spending increases were not sufficient.
"The contradiction between demand and supply of military funds remains obvious," said Yang Xuhua, an army delegate, after hearing the government's plans for this year.
Other military delegates also expressed disappointment, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported yesterday.
"The increase is less than we expected, in comparison with the 27 percent increase in state revenues last year," it quoted General Zhang Wentai (張文台), political commissar of the People's Liberation Army's General Logistics Department, as saying.
RSS