China eyes stronger military against threats

BEIJING (Reuters) – China needs stronger military forces as
it faces growing instability and threats to national security,
the ruling Communist Party’s ideological mouthpiece said
according to reports in the state media on Wednesday.

An essay in the latest issue of Qiushi, or Seek Truth, says
China must strengthen its military to guard a peaceful
international setting for economic growth, the official China
News Service reported.

“Destabilizing and uncertain factors are increasing and
having a major impact on China’s security environment,” the
essay said.

“History demonstrates that one cannot rely on others
granting peace, and only building a strong military and firm
national defense can provide a reliable security barrier,” it
added.

Qiushi magazine is the Communist Party’s ideological
mouthpiece and often carries essays by senior officials and
theorists. The latest essay appears to reflect unease about
China’s military preparedness, even with rapidly rising defense
spending over the past decade.

The essay did not specify the threats calling for stronger
defense, but it said that Western foes did not want to see a
strong China.

“Hostile Western forces do not want to see a strong
socialist China emerge in the east, and they are constantly
cooking up vain attempts to hold in check and contain China’s
development.”

Supporters of independence for Taiwan — the self-governed
island that China has claimed as its own since their split in
1949 amid civil war — are also a “major peril,” it added.

China has experienced deepening friction with Japan over
Tokyo’s treatment of its World War Two invasion and its
increasingly assertive foreign policy.

Beijing’s relations with Washington are strained by mutual
mistrust, even as the two countries seek to cooperate over
curtailing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and defusing
other regional disputes.

“At present, the political and military environment on
China’s periphery is quite complex, and unpredictable factors
are clearly rising,” the essay said.

China’s 2.3-million-strong People’s Liberation Army is the
world’s largest standing force and Beijing has said its defense
budget will rise 14.7 percent to 283.8 billion yuan ($35.5
billion) in 2006.

That is much smaller than United States’ $419.3 billion
defense budget for 2006, but many in Washington say China’s
real defense spending is higher than its official figure.