Post by Bozur on Mar 4, 2005 22:56:09 GMT -5
World - AP
China's Military Spending to Rise
Fri Mar 4, 1:05 AM ET World - AP
By ELAINE KURTENBACH, Associated Press Writer
BEIJING - China on Friday announced a 12.6 percent increase in military spending for 2005 but tried to allay fears that a proposed anti-secession law would prompt an attack on rival Taiwan.
AP Photo / Thu Mar 3, 8:53 AM ET / Chinese paramilitary police officers march across Beijing's Tiananmenm Square before the opening ceremony of the Chinese Peoples' Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in the adjacent Great Hall of the People in Beijing Thursday March 3, 2005. The CPPCC is a largely powerless advisory body to China's legislature, the National Peoples' Congress, which opens its annual session Saturday. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)
The rise in military spending adds to a series of double-digit annual increases as Beijing modernizes its forces to back up threats to invade Taiwan, which the communist mainland claims as its territory.
The increase was announced by a spokesman for China's parliament, which is due to enact the anti-secession law during an annual session that begins on Saturday. No details of the law have been released, and Taiwanese leaders say it could serve as a pretext for an attack on the island.
The spokesman rejected such fears.
"This law is not at all a law on the use of force against Taiwan, let alone a war mobilization order," Jiang Enzhu said at a news conference.
China's military budget this year will total $29.9 billion, Jiang said.
China has announced double-digit increases in military spending nearly every year for more than a decade as it modernizes the 2.5-million-member People's Liberation Army, the world's biggest fighting force.
With unreported sums for weapons acquisition and other confidential expenditures added in, China's total military spending is believed to be as much as several times the announced figure.
This year, the additional spending will help to pay for added training and more modern weapons, Jiang said.
The PLA also needs to spend more on pensions as it carries out plans to cut 200,000 troops from its ranks in a campaign to create a smaller, more technologically sophisticated force, he said.
Beijing has spent billions of dollars on acquiring Russian-made fighter jets, submarines and other high-tech weapons. Despite that, Jiang insisted that military spending was still "very low" as a percentage of China's economy.
"China's national defense budget is at a relatively low level, compared with the defense budgets of other major countries," he said.
China and Taiwan split in 1949 amid civil war, but Beijing claims the island as its territory and has threatened to invade if it tries to make its de facto independence permanent or puts off talks on unification.
Jiang accused Taiwanese activists of misrepresenting the anti-secession measure.
"It will be futile for independence forces to distort this law to mislead international public opinion," Jiang said.
Taiwanese lawmakers on Friday raised a clamor in their parliament over the proposed law, chanting slogans to denounce legislation they said could severely strain relations between the rivals.
Several lawmakers wore headbands that said "Against Anti-Secession Law" and chanted "Save Taiwan and say no to annexation" on the floor of the chamber. Some lawmakers called for enacting an anti-annexation law to counter the proposed Chinese legislation.
"We hope the mainland won't miscalculate the situation and do something to upset the stability in the Taiwan Strait," Premier Frank Hsieh warned.
Chinese officials say the proposed law was prompted by Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian's plans for a referendum on a new constitution, which Beijing worries could include a declaration of formal independence.
"Taiwan independence forces and their adventurous moves have seriously threatened China's state sovereignty and territorial integrity," Jiang said.
___
Associated Press writer Annie Huang in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.
China's Military Spending to Rise
Fri Mar 4, 1:05 AM ET World - AP
By ELAINE KURTENBACH, Associated Press Writer
BEIJING - China on Friday announced a 12.6 percent increase in military spending for 2005 but tried to allay fears that a proposed anti-secession law would prompt an attack on rival Taiwan.
AP Photo / Thu Mar 3, 8:53 AM ET / Chinese paramilitary police officers march across Beijing's Tiananmenm Square before the opening ceremony of the Chinese Peoples' Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in the adjacent Great Hall of the People in Beijing Thursday March 3, 2005. The CPPCC is a largely powerless advisory body to China's legislature, the National Peoples' Congress, which opens its annual session Saturday. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)
The rise in military spending adds to a series of double-digit annual increases as Beijing modernizes its forces to back up threats to invade Taiwan, which the communist mainland claims as its territory.
The increase was announced by a spokesman for China's parliament, which is due to enact the anti-secession law during an annual session that begins on Saturday. No details of the law have been released, and Taiwanese leaders say it could serve as a pretext for an attack on the island.
The spokesman rejected such fears.
"This law is not at all a law on the use of force against Taiwan, let alone a war mobilization order," Jiang Enzhu said at a news conference.
China's military budget this year will total $29.9 billion, Jiang said.
China has announced double-digit increases in military spending nearly every year for more than a decade as it modernizes the 2.5-million-member People's Liberation Army, the world's biggest fighting force.
With unreported sums for weapons acquisition and other confidential expenditures added in, China's total military spending is believed to be as much as several times the announced figure.
This year, the additional spending will help to pay for added training and more modern weapons, Jiang said.
The PLA also needs to spend more on pensions as it carries out plans to cut 200,000 troops from its ranks in a campaign to create a smaller, more technologically sophisticated force, he said.
Beijing has spent billions of dollars on acquiring Russian-made fighter jets, submarines and other high-tech weapons. Despite that, Jiang insisted that military spending was still "very low" as a percentage of China's economy.
"China's national defense budget is at a relatively low level, compared with the defense budgets of other major countries," he said.
China and Taiwan split in 1949 amid civil war, but Beijing claims the island as its territory and has threatened to invade if it tries to make its de facto independence permanent or puts off talks on unification.
Jiang accused Taiwanese activists of misrepresenting the anti-secession measure.
"It will be futile for independence forces to distort this law to mislead international public opinion," Jiang said.
Taiwanese lawmakers on Friday raised a clamor in their parliament over the proposed law, chanting slogans to denounce legislation they said could severely strain relations between the rivals.
Several lawmakers wore headbands that said "Against Anti-Secession Law" and chanted "Save Taiwan and say no to annexation" on the floor of the chamber. Some lawmakers called for enacting an anti-annexation law to counter the proposed Chinese legislation.
"We hope the mainland won't miscalculate the situation and do something to upset the stability in the Taiwan Strait," Premier Frank Hsieh warned.
Chinese officials say the proposed law was prompted by Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian's plans for a referendum on a new constitution, which Beijing worries could include a declaration of formal independence.
"Taiwan independence forces and their adventurous moves have seriously threatened China's state sovereignty and territorial integrity," Jiang said.
___
Associated Press writer Annie Huang in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.