China has no desire to overturn the existing international order and its increasingly powerful military does not constitute a threat to others, Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and National People’s Congress (NPC) spokesman Zhang Yesui (張業遂) said yesterday.
In a break with recent practice, Zhang refused to provide a figure for the rate of growth in the national defense budget.
However, he sought to strike a reassuring tone in remarks at a news conference on the eve of the congress’ annual session.
Photo: Bloomberg
He said China defended and contributed to the UN-centered global order, but also said some reforms were necessary.
“China’s development is conducive to world peace, stability and prosperity,” he said, pointing to global economic growth, trade and poverty reduction.
“As to the international order, we have no intention of overthrowing everything for starting over again,” Zhang said.
Photo: Reuters
Reforms should focus on “international rules that have fallen behind the times and no longer align with the shared aspirations of all nations,” he said.
China’s secretive military had begun to open up a crack in recent years, and the NPC spokesman has made a tradition of responding to a question on the defense budget by announcing the percentage increase over the past years, at least in rough terms.
Zhang did not address the question of numbers, saying instead that past increases by a “modest margin” had gone to equipment upgrades, training and improving welfare and living conditions for troops.
China’s defense spending as a share of GDP and the budget also remains lower than that of other major nations, he said.
“China proceeds from a defense policy that is defensive in nature. China’s development will not pose a threat to other countries,” Zhang said.
The Chinese Ministry of Finance last year said the defense budget would top 1 trillion yuan (US$145 billion) after the exact figure was initially kept out of documents released at the start of the annual legislative sessions.
However, China’s publicly announced defense spending has never been accurate since it omits a significant amount of “off-book” expenditures on defense equipment projects, said Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra.
“What’s alarming is not the non-reporting of largely fictitious defense spending figures so much as the Chinese leadership is shedding even the pretense of being open about its military plans,’’ Jennings said in an e-mail.
Combined with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) plans to eliminate term limits on his rule and his consolidation of control over the military, the lack of public information about defense spending and military planning “pushes China toward a more authoritarian and militarized leadership,” Jennings said.
“These trends should be deeply concerning to the Asia-Pacific region and beyond,” he said.
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
LONG-HELD POSITION: Washington has repeatedly and clearly reiterated its support for Taiwan and its long-term policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday said that Taiwan should not be concerned about being used as a bargaining chip in the ongoing US-China trade talks. “I don’t think you’re going to see some trade deal where, if what people are worried about is, we’re going to get some trade deal or we’re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan,” Rubio told reporters aboard his airplane traveling between Israel and Qatar en route to Asia. “No one is contemplating that,” Reuters quoted Rubio as saying. A US Treasury spokesman yesterday told reporters
RSS