Pentagon urges China to explain military buildup

By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China’s rapid military modernization
has altered Asia-Pacific military balances and could pose
threats to other forces, the Pentagon said on Tuesday in an
annual report that repeated U.S. calls for the Chinese to
explain the purpose of their build-up.

The 2006 China Military Power Report said China’s military
build-up retained its long-standing focus on rival Taiwan but
that years of double-digit growth in arms spending gave it the
ability to project power further afield.

“Long-term trends in China’s strategic nuclear forces
modernization, land- and sea-based access and denial
capabilities, and emerging precision-strike weapons have the
potential to pose credible threats to modern militaries
operating in the region,” said the report’s executive summary.

The Pentagon has been raising alarms over China’s military
modernization for several years, and the United States has been
joined by Japan in calling for China’s communist rulers to be
more open about military budgets and policy.

Earlier this year, the Pentagon in a new long-range
strategy blueprint called China the rising power with the
greatest potential to compete militarily with the United
States. It recommended new long-range weapons and a greater
military presence in the Pacific.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told military leaders in
Beijing last October that China’s neighbors were questioning
Chinese intentions.

This year’s report said: “China’s leaders have yet to
adequately explain the purposes or desired end-states of their
military expansion.” Outsiders had poor understanding of
decision-making or key capabilities of China’s army, it said.

“Absent greater transparency, international reactions to
China’s military growth will understandably hedge against these
unknowns,” said the report.

The report said that China had deployed some 710-790
short-range ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan — up from the
estimate 650-730 such missiles in the 2005 report.

China has claimed Taiwan as its own since 1949 when
Communists defeated the Nationalists at the end of the Chinese
civil war.

Beijing has vowed to attack the self-ruled democratic
island if it formally declares independence. The United States
is obliged by law to help Taiwan defend itself

Aside from possible conflict with Taiwan, “China’s military
acquisitions suggest it is also generating capabilities that
could apply to other regional contingencies, such as conflicts
over resources or territory,” the report said.

As part of efforts to boost its capabilities and range,
China had recently acquired from Russia IL-76 transport and
IL-78 tanker aircraft, the report said.