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White House: China not considered a threat
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-21 09:13 At the Pentagon, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the US position
remains that any change in the status of Taiwan should be made on a peaceful
basis.
"And I think that the general behavior that we've seen in that part of the
world suggests that that's over time very likely how it will all work out," he
said.
General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there
was "absolutely no reason for us to believe there is any intent on (China's)
part" to wage war.
The annual Pentagon report on China's military said the weapons buildup is
growing at a pace that is tipping the military balance against Taiwan but said
it had only a limited ability to operate outside its own periphery.
The report groundlss put China's defence spending at two-three times
greater than acknowledged by Beijing, or up to US$90 billion this year.
The report detailed China's efforts to increase its ballistic missile
strength and modernize its conventional forces with acquisitions from Russia and
other countries of advanced fighter aircraft, warships, submarines, precision
weapons and computerized information systems.
"China does not now face a direct threat from another nation," the report
said. "Yet, it continues to invest heavily in its military, particularly in
programs designed to improve power projection."
"The pace and scope of China's military build-up are, already, such as to put
regional military balances at risk," said the 45-page report "The Military Power
of the People's Republic of China."
It said China has deployed 650-730 mobile short range ballistic missiles
opposite Taiwan, and is adding about 100 missiles a year. In addition, it has
375,000 ground forces deployed in three military regions opposite Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives approved a measure that would
penalize European firms for selling US weapons technology to China.
The amendment is a scaled-back version of a more stringent measure rejected
by the House last week, after opponents complained that it could harm US
business interests that sell their products overseas.
The "East Asia Security Act," authored by the House International Affairs
Committee's Republican chairman, Henry Hyde and the committee's top Democrat,
Tom Lantos, passed late Tuesday as an amendment to State Department funding
legislation.
The bill welcomes deferral of an EU decision to terminate an arms embargo to
China, but expresses concern that sales could go forward indirectly via various
loopholes, since some European firms which reportedly have aided Beijing's
military build-up also are participants in leading-edge US weapons programs.
The revised bill would only punish US companies guilty of exporting military
technology to China if it can be proved they were aware that their products
would ultimately be used for military ends.
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