In an obvious reference to Taiwan, General Xu Caihou (徐才厚), vice chairman of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Central Military Commission, told a Washington audience on Monday that China had to modernize and build its armed forces because the country “has yet to realize complete unification.”
He added: “So, I believe it is simply necessary for the PLA to have an appropriate level of modernity in terms of our weapons and equipment.”
But in a speech and question-and-answer session, Xu was careful to avoid controversy or engage in any detailed discussion of Taiwan. Referring to the world in general, he said that China would never seek hegemony, military expansion or an arms race.
“There is still a huge gap between China and the developed world,” he said. “We are now predominantly committed to peaceful development and we will not, and could not, challenge or threaten any other country.”
He was due to privately meet US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in the Pentagon yesterday before leaving Washington later in the week for a major tour of US military bases.
In his address to an invited group of defense and foreign policy experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Xu said that China’s development of weapons and military equipment — including cruise and ballistic missiles — was purely defensive, limited in scope and justified “given the vast area of China, the severity of the challenges facing us.”
Dressed in full military uniform and speaking through a translator, he said: “I want to make clear that the limited weapons and equipment of China is entirely to meet the minimum requirements for meeting national security. China’s defense policy remains defensive and is designed to repel attacks, not initiate attacks.”
The visit is widely seen as preparing the way for US President Barack Obama’s planned trip to Beijing next month.
China’s defense spending increased by an average of 16.2 percent a year from 1999 to last year and will rise 14.9 percent this year, Bloomberg news service has said. It is the second-highest in the world after the US — between US$105 billion and US$150 billion. The US military budget last year, not including supplemental spending for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was US$488 billion.
Xu said that China’s military expenditure was “quite low” and that it spends 1.4 percent of its GDP on defense, compared with 4.8 percent for the US.
“We believe that we should prudently handle current and future international affairs with a way of thinking that seeks accommodation instead of confrontation and win-win instead of zero-sum games,” Xu said. “The China-US relationship is one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world. Exchanges and cooperation between the United States and China are important for world peace and development.”
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS