from:http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=6937
China in Midst of Huge Military Build Up

March 17, 2006
While the news media and politicians in the United States continue their focus on the Dubai Ports World deal or censuring President George W. Bush or Hillary Clinton, there are enormous changes occurring in communist China. For the most part, the news media and pundits have ignored events in China for over a decade.

Even when President Bill Clinton allowed dual-purpose technology transfers to the Chinese, few realized the significance of those transfers, and little was reported in the US media. Some of that US technology helped the Chinese government in perfecting the accuracy of their Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).

Now many are ignoring the fact that China boasts it will increase its military spending by 14.7% this year. Of course, an official from China's parliament quickly told US and European Union military analysts that much of the increase would be used to cover fuel and salaries and that China was a "peace-loving nation".

Jiang Enzhu, a member of parliament, told the British Broadcasting Company that the US spent a greater proportion of its economy on defense and that China had "no intention of vigorously developing armaments".

However, American intelligence sources have at various times accused China of understating its military budget and weapons programs.

It's been widely accepted that China's armed forces are the biggest in the world and has undergone double-digit increases in military spending since the early 1990s. The increases have caused fear by their immediate neighbors Japan and Taiwan. The US has also expressed concerns over the spending on the 2.5 million strong military. Washington has several times accused China of understating its military budget.

But the Chinese government claims its spending is in line with military budgets in other governments. China's defense budget has climbed in recent years along with the success of its economy.

China also claims its military spending is insignificant when compared with the United States. According to Pentagon figures the US had a base military budget of $400 billion in last year.

Japan is also developing new torpedos to boost the defense of its islands, including some claimed by China. The Japanese fear the Chinese may try to take over the disputed islands.

Part of the efforts to strengthen its ability to defend remote islands against Chinese attack entails the Japanese sending some 125 ground troops to San Diego, California from January 9-27 for advanced training with the US Marines, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said.

The troops will take part in reconnaissance training such as learning how to land on potentially-occupied remote islands and gather information, the paper said.

The aim is to strengthen Japan's ability to defend remote southern isles such as the disputed islands known as the Diaoyus in China and the Senkakus in Japan, the newspaper said.

Wang Xinjun, a military analyst, told the Chinese media that the US is playing up China's military power in order to contain China's military development. He says that the Pentagon seeks to strengthen US forces in the Asia Pacific area, in order to offset China's influence in the region.

Meanwhile, the left-wing in the US believe this is a means by which the Pentagon may garner more funding for military weapons and technology. As usual, the liberal-left in the US sees no threat to national security, preferring to hamper any military spending as they did during the Cold War.


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Meanwhile back in the Land of Mao: China Tells World it would NEVER pose a Threat to another country  ...that we must look at Chinese Defense Build up Objectively

Chicom Premier Wen Jiabao : 'China's military policy is completely for self defense. This is crystal clear'

Which is why China is forgin military ties in Latin America and why China has over 700 Missiles pointed at Taiwan...(they're afraid of the Taiwanese invading the Mainland)