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China rejects Pentagon's 'threat' report
(China Daily/Xinhua/CRI)
Updated: 2006-02-08 06:10
China yesterday rejected a Pentagon report that plays up the "China military
threat," saying it poses no threat to the world.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan invites
questions at a press conference in Beijing.
[newsphoto/file] | "We express firm opposition to
the US defence review and have lodged a serious objection with the US," Foreign
Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said at a regular news briefing.
The US Quadrennial Defence Review released last week by the Department of
Defence said China had the greatest potential to compete militarily with the
United States.
"The report interferes with China's internal affairs by groundlessly blaming
the nation's normal national defence build-up," Kong said. "It also whips up
fears of a 'Chinese military threat' and misleads public opinion."
China is taking a straight path towards peaceful development and is adopting
a national defence policy of a defensive nature.
"China has never threatened any country in the past, and will never do so in
the future," he said. Kong urged the US to correct its viewpoints and actions
and view China's peaceful development with an objective and positive
attitude.
China's military budget for 2005 was $30.7 billion,
based on current exchange rates, after a decade of double-digit annual
increases.
"Of the major and emerging powers, China has the greatest potential to
compete militarily with the United States and field disruptive military
technologies that could over time offset traditional U.S. military advantages
absent U.S. counter strategies," the latest Pentagon report said.
By comparison, President Bush in his budget proposal this week said America's
military budget in 2007 should be $439.3 billion, a 6.9% increase over 2006 for
the Pentagon. That figure does not include the costs of war in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
"The United States should correct its wrong view and treat China's peaceful
development in an objective and positive manner," Kong said. "It should stop
making groundless remarks and do more to benefit the stable and healthy
development of China-U.S. relations."
Ruan Zongze, deputy head of the
China Institute of International Studies and an expert on China-U.S. relations,
said the report criticized China as lacking military transparency.
"The
criticism is unacceptable," said Ruan. China has publicized white papers on its
national defence annually for many years and issued a first-ever white paper on
its peaceful development in December 2005.
Ruan noted that compared with
the previous report issued in 2001, this QDR specified China's military
potential to challenge the United States. The United States is paying more and
more attention to China's military issues.
Zhu Feng, a professor of the
International Relations Institute of the prestigious Beijing University, said
the United States considers China as the biggest competitor and therefore has
continuously strengthened its guard against China.
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