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Increasing cross-strait military imbalance troubling, says U.S.

Central News Agency

2010/08/17 12:19:14

Washington, Aug. 16 (CNA) Despite closer economic and cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, a Pentagon official said Monday that China's military buildup opposite Taiwan is troubling.

"We do see a continuation of troubling -- of troubling trends -- that include what we perceive as an increased Chinese activity in strengthening their hand across the strait, " said the Pentagon official, referring to the just-released report "Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2010."

"This is a time when we've seen progress on the diplomatic front and the economic front, and yet in the security, the military field, we've seen no change in Chinese behavior, " said the official, whose name was withheld as he was speaking on background.

Pentagon authors said in the report that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) is developing the capability to deter Taiwan independence or influence Taiwan to settle the dispute on Beijing's terms while simultaneously attempting to deter, delay, or deny any possible U.S. support for the island in case of conflict.

"The balance of cross-Strait military forces continues to shift in the mainland's favor," the report said.

China's comprehensive military modernization is supported by the continued increase in government funding, the report said.

On March 4 of this year, Beijing announced a 7.5 percent increase in its military budget to approximately US$78.6 billion, continuing more than two decades of sustained annual increases in China's announced military budget.

According to the report, by December 2009, the PLA had deployed between 1,050 and 1,150 CSS-6 and CSS-7 short-range ballistic missiles to units opposite Taiwan.

"It is upgrading the lethality of the force, including by introducing variants of these missiles with improved ranges, accuracies, and payloads," the report said.

The PLA has made modest improvements in the transparency of China's military and security affairs. However, many uncertainties remain regarding how China will use its expanding military capabilities, the report said.

The limited transparency in China's military and security affairs enhances uncertainty and increases the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation, one official said.

"(It is) also perhaps even more troubling given China's increasing military capabilities -- a cycle that increases the risk that miscommunication and misperception could lead to miscalculation, "another senior official said at the press briefing.

The cross-strait military imbalance becomes more obvious when the scales of the two sides' armed forces are compared. China's army maintains 400,000 ground forces personnel based in three military regions opposite Taiwan, compared to Taiwan's 130,000.

In the air force, the PLA bases 330 combat fighters within unrefueled operational range of Taiwan, along with 160 bombers and 40 transports, while Taiwan has 388 jet fighters, 22 attack/bombers and 21 transports, according to the report.

A comparison of naval forces shows that the PLA has a 15: 4 edge over Taiwan in destroyers, a 40:22 edge in cruisers, a 25:12 edge in amphibious ships, and a 32:4 edge in diesel attack subs, according to the report.

(By Zep Hu and Deborah Kuo)

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