Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

PRESIDENT DESCRIBES CHINA'S MILITARY RISE AS THREAT

ROC Central News Agency

2005-08-15 20:52:26

    Taipei, Aug. 15 (CNA) Present Chen Shui-bian warned that China's military expansion and modernization is not only a threat against Taiwan, but also the entire international community.

    Chen made the remarks during an interview published Monday in the newspaper, Australian, in reply to the question of why China is boosting its military build-up.

    Chen said that "their (China's) main aim is to become a hegemony in the Pacific Ocean."

    Chen cited U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as saying that there's no reason for China to engage in a military build-up when no countries in the world are threatening its national security.

    Despite this fact, China's military spending has been assessed to be undergoing double-digit growth annually in the past 17 consecutive years, according to Japan's 2005 defense white paper released early August, he said.

    However, because China has never revealed its military budget, the authorities in both the United States and Japan believe the country's actual military spending could be two or three-time larger than the estimated military budget, Chen added, adding that China's rapid military expansion has ambitions far beyond Taiwan.

    He warned that China's rise is not for maintaining peace but for its military ambition.

(By Elizabeth Hsu)

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