• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Pentagon urges China to explain military buildup

Posted on: Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 12:17 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category