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January 13, 2009
Exclusive: The Obama Presidency - China Continues Huge Military Build Up
While the news media and politicians in the United States continue their focus on domestic issues such as bailouts for failing corporations, 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, except during the Summer Olympic Games when most members of the mainstream media gushed over the Chinese.
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 U.S. media. Some of that U.S. technology, for example, helped the Chinese government in perfecting the accuracy of their Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).
Now as Americans await the inauguration of President Barack Obama, many political leaders are still ignoring the fact that China is planning to increase its military spending by up to 15% in the new year. Of course, an official from China's parliament quickly told U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. had a base military budget of $400 billion in last year.
Japan is also developing new torpedoes 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 ground troops to San Diego, California for advanced training with the U.S. Marines, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said.
The troops took 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 U.S. is playing up China's military power in order to contain China's military development. He says that the Pentagon seeks to strengthen U.S. forces in the Asia Pacific area, in order to offset China's influence in the region.
Meanwhile, the left-wing in the U.S. believes this is a means by which the Pentagon may garner more funding for military weapons and technology. As usual, the liberal-left in the U.S. sees no threat to national security, preferring to hamper any military spending as they did during the Cold War.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Jim Kouri, CPP is currently vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and a staff writer for the New Media Alliance . Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.
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