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.”
SOLIDARITY: A group of European lawmakers condemned China’s aggressive moves, while the foreign minister of Lithuania said Taiwan ‘cannot become a second Ukraine’ A German parliamentary delegation would visit Taiwan in the first week of October, German lawmaker Holger Becker on Monday told visiting Democratic Progressive Party legislators Fan Yun (范雲) and Lin I-chin (林宜瑾) at the Bundestag in Berlin. Asked by Fan whether he is worried about possible reprisals from Beijing, such as banning him and his family from entering China, Becker said he is more interested in visiting Taiwan, as “now is the time for democracies to stand together.” Fan and Lin also met with German officials to exchange views on digital education and governance. Investing in digital infrastructure and protecting equal rights to
As China waged extensive military exercises off Taiwan, a group of US defense experts in Washington was focused on their own simulation of an eventual — but for now entirely hypothetical — US-China war over the nation. The unofficial what-if game is being conducted on the fifth floor of an office building not far from the White House, and it posits a US military response to a Chinese invasion in 2026. Even though the participants bring a US perspective, they are finding that a US-Taiwan victory, if there is one, could come at a huge cost. “The results are showing that under
‘SIMULATED ATTACKS’: Ten warships each from China and Taiwan were maneuvering at close quarters in the Taiwan Strait, with some Chinese vessels crossing the median line Taiwan yesterday reiterated that it would not succumb to pressure from Beijing after China carried out its most provocative military drills in decades in retaliation for US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan last week. “We will never bow to pressure. We uphold freedom and democracy, and believe Taiwanese disapprove [of] China’s bullying actions with force and saber rattling at our door,” Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday. China had “arrogantly” disrupted regional peace and stability, he said, calling on Beijing to not flex its military muscles. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has also called on the international community to “support
DRILLS CONTINUE: China’s creation of a restricted zone across the median line of the Taiwan Strait challenges a 70-year-old fact, a ministry of defense official said The nation’s military fully complies with international rules and guidelines when responding to Chinese military drills, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, vowing to continue defending Taiwan in accordance with international law. China on Thursday launched four days of military drills around Taiwan proper in response to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei. The drills were expected to end on Sunday, but neither Beijing nor Taipei confirmed their conclusion, although the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said it had seen some evidence suggesting at least a partial drawdown. However, China yesterday said the drills would continue, saying “the
RSS