China eyes stronger military against threats

Beijing, July 26: China needs stronger military forces as it faces growing instability and threats to national security, the ruling Communist Party's ideological mouthpiece said according to reports in the state media today.

An essay in the latest issue of Qiushi, or Seek Truth, says China must strengthen its military to guard a peaceful international setting for economic growth, the official China News Service reported.

''Destabilising and uncertain factors are increasing and having a major impact on China's security environment,'' the essay said.

''History demonstrates that one cannot rely on others granting peace, and only building a strong military and firm national defence can provide a reliable security barrier,'' it added.

Qiushi magazine is the Communist Party's ideological mouthpiece and often carries essays by senior officials and theorists. The latest essay appears to reflect unease about China's military preparedness, even with rapidly rising defence spending over the past decade.

The essay did not specify the threats calling for stronger defence, but it said that Western foes did not want to see a strong China.

''Hostile Western forces do not want to see a strong socialist China emerge in the east, and they are constantly cooking up vain attempts to hold in check and contain China's development.'' Supporters of independence for Taiwan -- the self-governed island that China has claimed as its own since their split in 1949 amid civil war -- are also a ''major peril'', it added.

China has experienced deepening friction with Japan over Tokyo's treatment of its World War Two invasion and its increasingly assertive foreign policy.

Beijing's relations with Washington are strained by mutual mistrust, even as the two countries seek to cooperate over curtailing North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and defusing other regional disputes.

''At present, the political and military environment on China's periphery is quite complex, and unpredictable factors are clearly rising,'' the essay said.

China's 2.3-million-strong People's Liberation Army is the world's largest standing force and Beijing has said its defence budget will rise 14.7 percent to 283.8 billion yuan (35.5 billion dollars) in 2006.

That is much smaller than United States' 419.3 billion dollars defence budget for 2006, but many in Washington say China's real defence spending is higher than its official figure.

Reuters