The men were an elite force of soldiers from the Chinese People's Liberation Army deployed on a mission to undermine archrival Taiwan. They didn't come armed with missiles or tanks. Their weapon was water.
The 20 troops from a PLA water supply regiment were being dispatched to Liberia. In return, the West African nation was cutting diplomatic ties with Taiwan -- an illustration of how China's PLA is becoming an increasingly sophisticated tool of foreign policy.
PHOTO: EPA
The military and relations with Taiwan will be on the minds of China's leaders as they meet during the annual legislative session, the National People's Congress, which convened yesterday. The military budget is to be announced today, and further increases are expected.
"We will energetically carry forward military reforms with Chinese characteristics and work hard to modernize national defense and armed forces to a higher stage of development," Premier Wen Jiabao said at the opening session.
Also in the works is development of "new and high-technology weaponry and equipment" and the training of "a new type of highly competent military personnel," according to the government's Xinhua News Agency.
Military delegates to the NPC, a powerful lobby, expect adherence to dogma on Taiwan as well as a vigorous defense of China's international economic and military security.
At the top of their list: the well-being of the 2.5-million-strong PLA, a sprawling organization of low-paid and poorly-trained men, decrepit equipment and outdated philosophy.
Defense spending rose by 9.6 percent last year to US$22.4 billion, a slight slowing after 13 years of double-digit growth -- increases that have raised alarm abroad. Actual spending is believed higher -- as much as US$55 billion, foreign experts say -- because the total doesn't include weapons purchases.
But military spending is "still at a fairly low level -- barely enough to keep things going," the military's chief finance official, Major General Ding Jiye, said at last year's congress.
The generals may be in a position to make more demands following a year of spectacular triumphs and quiet developments.
In October, the military-backed space program successfully sent China's first astronaut into space -- a publicity triumph praised as a sign of the PLA's growing sophistication.
The military also edged toward greater cooperation. Land forces joined in combined exercises with five Central Asian nations. The navy held first-ever joint exercises separately off Shanghai with ships from India and Pakistan. And a visit by the US Pacific fleet flagship to Shanghai last month was reciprocated with rare tours of one of China's most sophisticated missile frigates.
China has tried to jump-start relations with the US military that were largely frozen after the April 2001 collision between an American spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet. Recent visits included a trip to Beijing by the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"Intensified military exchanges between the two countries ... not only are in the interests of the two countries, but also conform to and promote the trends of world peace and development," military writer Dai Er wrote in the official People's Liberation Army Daily last week.
But the PLA remains a nationalistic force suspicious of the US and Japan, which are seen as constraints on China's regional power and absorption of Taiwan.
Chinese generals have been quoted as saying China would "pay any price" to block Taiwan's independence.
"We are prepared to pay these costs to uphold national unity and territorial integrity," wrote Brigadier General Peng Guangqian of the Academy of Military Science.
Yet despite the occasional tough talk, the military has been restrained over the issue -- a far cry from eight years ago, when the PLA staged war games and fired missiles into the Taiwan Strait in an attempt to intimidate voters.
Nor are tensions with Taiwan likely to affect long-term planning goals, observers say.
"They might accelerate some programs due to Taiwan, but the PLA is really keeping to a long-term schedule for rise to power," said Robert Karniol, Asia-Pacific editor for Jane's Defense Weekly.
Meanwhile, the military continues efforts to shed fat and add muscle with plans to cut hundreds of thousands of troops over coming years.
China is also hoping to convince the EU to lift a 15-year-old ban on weapons sales -- over the objections of the US and several EU member states.
But while access to more sophisticated gear would have an impact, it's still a small part of the overall strategy of influence: As demonstrated in Liberia -- China's new ally as of last October -- clean drinking water may be as important as bombs.
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