Hu Jintao calls for more powerful navy

Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) urged the building of a powerful navy that is prepared "at any time" for military struggle, state media reported yesterday.

At a meeting of delegates to a Chinese Communist Party navy forum on Wednesday, Hu said China was a major maritime country whose naval capability must be improved.

"We should strive to build a powerful navy that adapts to the needs of our military's historical mission in this new century and at this new stage," he said in comments splashed on the front pages of the party mouthpiece People's Daily and the People's Liberation Army Daily.

"We should make sound preparations for military struggles and ensure that the forces can effectively carry out missions at any time," said Hu, pictured in green military garb for the occasion.

Analysts say China sees a stronger navy as a way to secure energy supplies and seaborne trade routes to help ease security fears over supplies of resources and oil it needs to feed its booming economy.

China's naval expansion includes a growing submarine fleet and new ships with "blue water" capability, fuelling fears in the US that its military could alter the balance of power in Asia with consequences for Taiwan.

In a report issued by the Jamestown Foundation last March, You Ji (尤冀), a professor of international relations at Australia's University of South Wales wrote that in the past two decades the People's Liberation Army Navy has extended its combat mission from coastal defense to offshore power projection, but it still faces significant roadblocks in its attempts to modernize.

The continued import of major weapons systems from overseas proves that China has not been able to produce key technologies of its own, he wrote, while its progress in laboratory research has not been matched by engineering and manufacturing maturity.

You said that the navy's interconnectibility and combat management systems remain far behind world standards.

He also said that China's finances have also kept the navy from expanding as quickly as it would have liked.

Hu also called yesterday for the "strict management of the navy according to law," a possible reference to a scandal in which a vice admiral was jailed for life on a charge of embezzlement.

Wang Shouye (王守業) was convicted by a military court earlier this month, Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po reported, making him the most senior military officer to be jailed for corruption. Wang was sacked earlier this year from his post as navy deputy commander for bad morals and using his position to demand and accept bribes and violate laws and discipline.