BanglaBhoot
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The Pentagon on Wednesday urged China to be more transparent about its military build-up but conceded that the Chinese military had made minor progress in detailing its defence spending over the past year.
In releasing its annual report on the Chinese military, the Pentagon said the limited transparency poses risks to stability by creating uncertainty and increasing the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation.
The Pentagon released the report just weeks after Chinese naval and fishing vessels harassed the USNS Impeccable, a US Navy surveillance ship, in the South China Sea, in an incident that threatened to derail a recent improvement in military relations.
It also highlighted a new naval base on Hainan Island where China is basing a sophisticated new class of nuclear submarines. China is increasingly using the base for the submarines because it gives them quicker and easier access to the open sea.
The Pentagon said China continued to deploy more missiles across the Taiwan Strait despite an easing of tensions with Taipei since the election of Ma Ying-jeou last year. It added that China was rapidly developing coercive capabilities to deter Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province from seeking de jure independence.
These same capabilities could in the future be used to pressure Taiwan toward a settlement of the cross-strait dispute on Beijings terms while simultaneously attempting to deter, delay or deny any possible US support for the island in case of conflict, the report said.
In past years, China has accused the US of maintaining a Cold War mentality by preparing the report, which is congressionally mandated. A senior defence official said there had been no discussion by the new Obama administration about toning down the report.
The US official said China had not crossed any major new threshold over the past year, but was continuing its overall military build-up, which is propelled by double-digit growth in its defence budget.
While the Chinese military budget has benefited from the huge investment, the Pentagon said China would need at least until the end of this decade to produce a force that was capable of defeating a moderate-size adversary. It said the PLA would need well into the 2020s before it could project and sustain large forces in combat operations far from China.
The report said China continued to develop disruptive technologies and anti-access capabilities such as submarines that can threaten aircraft carriers that were creating increasingly credible, layered offensive combat power across its borders and into the Western Pacific.
The Pentagon also provided data for the first time on PLA efforts to expand its presence around the globe, in terms of assignments in other countries, military exercises with other countries, and anti-piracy naval operations in the Gulf of Aden.
For example, the PLA now had at least 267 defence attaches posted around the world in 2008, compared to 201 six years before that. It said the PLA had taken part in at least 14 maritime search and rescue exercises with foreign militaries between 2002 and 2007.
The report also outlined Chinese military sales, saying Beijing had sold almost $7bn in conventional weapons around the world between 2003 and 2007, with the primary customer being Pakistan.
FT.com / Asia-Pacific - Pentagon presses Beijing on military transparency
In releasing its annual report on the Chinese military, the Pentagon said the limited transparency poses risks to stability by creating uncertainty and increasing the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation.
The Pentagon released the report just weeks after Chinese naval and fishing vessels harassed the USNS Impeccable, a US Navy surveillance ship, in the South China Sea, in an incident that threatened to derail a recent improvement in military relations.
It also highlighted a new naval base on Hainan Island where China is basing a sophisticated new class of nuclear submarines. China is increasingly using the base for the submarines because it gives them quicker and easier access to the open sea.
The Pentagon said China continued to deploy more missiles across the Taiwan Strait despite an easing of tensions with Taipei since the election of Ma Ying-jeou last year. It added that China was rapidly developing coercive capabilities to deter Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province from seeking de jure independence.
These same capabilities could in the future be used to pressure Taiwan toward a settlement of the cross-strait dispute on Beijings terms while simultaneously attempting to deter, delay or deny any possible US support for the island in case of conflict, the report said.
In past years, China has accused the US of maintaining a Cold War mentality by preparing the report, which is congressionally mandated. A senior defence official said there had been no discussion by the new Obama administration about toning down the report.
The US official said China had not crossed any major new threshold over the past year, but was continuing its overall military build-up, which is propelled by double-digit growth in its defence budget.
While the Chinese military budget has benefited from the huge investment, the Pentagon said China would need at least until the end of this decade to produce a force that was capable of defeating a moderate-size adversary. It said the PLA would need well into the 2020s before it could project and sustain large forces in combat operations far from China.
The report said China continued to develop disruptive technologies and anti-access capabilities such as submarines that can threaten aircraft carriers that were creating increasingly credible, layered offensive combat power across its borders and into the Western Pacific.
The Pentagon also provided data for the first time on PLA efforts to expand its presence around the globe, in terms of assignments in other countries, military exercises with other countries, and anti-piracy naval operations in the Gulf of Aden.
For example, the PLA now had at least 267 defence attaches posted around the world in 2008, compared to 201 six years before that. It said the PLA had taken part in at least 14 maritime search and rescue exercises with foreign militaries between 2002 and 2007.
The report also outlined Chinese military sales, saying Beijing had sold almost $7bn in conventional weapons around the world between 2003 and 2007, with the primary customer being Pakistan.
FT.com / Asia-Pacific - Pentagon presses Beijing on military transparency
