China's military development will not challenge US: PLA Major General

Beijing, Mar 4(ANI): A People's Liberation Army (PLA) Major General and member of China's top political advisory body has said the country's military development will not challenge the United States.

"China is the only permanent member of the United Nations Security Council that has not achieved territorial integrity," The China Daily quoted Major General Luo Yuan, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and senior researcher with the Academy of Military Sciences, as saying.

"We need to think more on how to preserve national integrity. We have no intention of challenging the US," he added.

Luo's remarks came in response to Senior Colonel Liu Mingfu, who recently said in his newly published book that China should build the world's strongest military.

Liu's 303-page book stands out for its boldness in a recent chorus of strong voices demanding a hard shove back against Washington over the US' arms sale to Taiwan and US President Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Meanwhile, Zhao Qizheng, spokesman for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said that China's military power does not threaten other countries.

"China's defense spending was just about 1.4 or 1.5 percent of the country's GDP in recent years. US defense spending was more than 4 percent of its GDP, which is three times as big as China's," Zhao said.

China's military budget in 2009 was 70 billion dollars, while US military spending, by contrast, was about 494 billion dollars. (ANI)