| China
Military Expansion Could Have Global Implications
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 3, 2008 –
China not only is a rising international economic
power, but also is a rising military power with
new and developing capabilities that have global
implications, according to the 2008 China Military
Power Report released today.
David Sedney, deputy assistant
secretary of defense for East Asia, announces the
release to Congress of the 2008 Defense Department
Report on the Military Power of the People's Republic
of China, during a March 3, 2008, Pentagon news
conference. Photo by R.D. Ward
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution
image available.
The annual report mandated by Congress analyzes
China’s military development and strategy
and says that the country spent as much as $139
billion, more than three times its announced defense
budget, modernizing its military forces last year.
That amount dwarfs the military
budgets of Russia, Japan and South Korea, and has
been the driving force behind the country’s
military transformation, fueled by the acquisition
of advanced foreign weapons and far-reaching organizational
and doctrinal reforms.
Combined with what Defense Department
officials call a lack of transparency, the military
development poses risks to stability by increasing
the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation,
the report concludes.
“China’s military buildup
has been characterized by opacity, but (there is
an) inability by both people in the region and people
around the world to really know what ties together
the capabilities that China’s acquiring with
the intentions it has,” said David Sedney,
deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia.
“So there are a lot of areas where there is
misunderstanding. There are a lot of areas where
there is lack of knowledge.”
The Chinese government generally
protests the report, said Sedney, but this year
the two sides have agreed to talk about their objections
and officials hope to get more answers to their
questions. This is the first time this has been
done, he said.
“As China continues to grow
and expand and influence the course of world events,
it’s important for us to have a clear understanding,”
Sedney said.
To date, the Chinese have invested
in new generations of survivable nuclear missiles,
capable of targeting the United States as well as
regional powers; advanced short- and medium-range
ballistic missiles; advanced attack and ballistic
missile submarines; Russian aircraft and precision
weaponry; multi-mission F-10 fighter aircraft; Russian
guided missile destroyers; and modern, long-range,
mobile air defense systems.
China’s near-term focus appears
to be on Taiwan, but long-term trends suggest China
is building a force scoped for operations beyond
Taiwan, according to the report. China continues
to deploy its most advanced weapons systems to the
military regions opposite Taiwan. China’s
military is developing capabilities for a number
of different military options against Taiwan, including
coercion, an air and missile campaign, blockade,
and amphibious invasion, according to the report.
Of particular concern to Defense
Department officials is the country’s ability
to use cyberspace to attack computer networks. Several
“intrusions” around the world in which
a computer network is infiltrated and information
gathered, Sedney said, have been sourced back to
China. None of the intrusions were into classified
material, Sedney said.
“While we are not able to
definitively label them as the work of the (People’s
Liberation Army) or the Chinese government, the
techniques that were used, the way these intrusions
are conducted are certainly very consistent with
what you would need if you were going to actually
carry out cyber warfare,” Sedney said.
But, overall, Sedney said, there
is no one “big” change this year in
the continued military growth in China.
“The real story is the continuing
development, the continuing modernization, the continuing
acquisition of capabilities and the corresponding
and unfortunate lack of understanding, lack of transparency
about the intentions of those and how they are going
to be employed. What is China going to do with all
that?” Sedney said.
Still, the overall U.S.-China defense
relationship continues to improve, as demonstrated
by extensive high-level visits in both directions;
ship visits; and officer exchanges, including for
mid- and junior-grade officers and between military
education institutions, according to the report.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates
met in November with Chinese Defense Minister Cao
Gangchuan and said, “the United States has
a relationship with China that is candid, constructive,
and cooperative. Minister Cao and I discussed ways
to build on positive momentum in our defense relations,
and how to use these interactions to improve communications
and reduce the risk of misunderstanding.”
On Feb. 29, the two countries agreed
on establishing a telephone link between their respective
defense departments. Officials believe the link
will be operational this month. Still, U.S. officials
would be more comfortable with China’s military
expansion if it understood the country’s overall
intentions, officials said.
“The United States welcomes
the rise of a stable, peaceful, and prosperous China,”
the report reads. “The United States continues
to encourage China to participate as a responsible
international stakeholder by taking on a greater
share of responsibility for the stability, resilience
and growth of the global system. However, much uncertainty
surrounds China’s future course, in particular
in the area of its expanding military power and
how that power might be used.”
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