Category: China

The Pentagon was very critical of China’s growing military power in its annual report to the U.S. Congress, claiming it is altering the military balance in Asia.

The U.S. Department of Defense criticized China’s development of “disruptive military technologies,” including “nuclear, space, and cyber warfare.”

The U.S. is also worried about the purpose of China’s military, stating in the report that, “much uncertainty surrounds China’s future course, particularly regarding how its expanding military power might be used.”

Chinese officials have expressed their disappointment with the Pentagon’s annual report, which they feel unfairly portrays China as a military aggressor.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang has urged the U.S. to “drop the Cold War thinking… to prevent further damage to the relationship between the two countries and two armies.”

China’s military spending is still a fraction of America’s and it maintains that the “peaceful rise” in military spending is appropriate in concordance with the country’s economic growth.

In the largest protest in Qinghai province this year, almost 100 Tibetans have been detained after a crowd surrounded government buildings near Rabgya Monastery.

The unrest seems to be in response to the 28-year-old monk, Tashi Sangbo, committing suicide.

The young monk was arrested last week for having a Tibetan flag in his possession as well as several political leaflets – both of which are banned in the region. Tashi then escaped custody and killed himself by jumping into a river.

“Angry protesters managed to snatch from police the Tibetan national flag that was earlier confiscated by the Chinese officials,” according to the Phayul report, which also reported that thousands were involved in the protest.

Chinese officials managed to block all communication in and out of the Tibetan enclave by closing roads, as well as cutting telephone lines, text messages, and internet, making it difficult for reports to be authenticated.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the exile of the Dalai Lama, which has triggered China to issue thousands of paramilitary troops to the region to ensure stability.

In another controversial move, China has recently dispatched a state-of-the-art patrol ship to the South China Sea – possibly in response to the signing of the Philippine Archipelagic Baselines Law and the recent altercation with a U.S. surveillance vessel.

The Philippines believe the move to be a show of intimidation in the region following the island country’s claim on the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal.

“The deployment of the patrol ship was a message and we cannot just ignore it,” Philippines National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “We have to take it seriously.”

While the Philippines maintain that their claim is consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, it has been met with fierce protest in Beijing where the Baseline Law is regarded as ‘illegal.’

The Spratly Islands are claimed in full by China and Vietnam, as well as partly by the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, as well as Taiwan, and have been a contentious topic for years.

In its 19th double-digit increase in 20 years, China is again increasing military spending for the 2009 fiscal year – this time by 14.9 percent. The increase will boost the country’s military finances up to RMB480.6 billion, or a 6.3 percent share of the total budget.

The funds will help maintain “sovereignty and integrity of Chinese territory and would not threaten any country,” according to a report by National People’s Congress spokesman Li Zhaoxing, issued today.

Li went on to say, “The increased part of the budget is mainly used to raise salaries for soldiers as well as spending on military ‘informatisation’, counter-terrorism and internal security.”

In a policy report issued by Beijing in January, government officials asserted that China’s national security was improving, but that the country’s armed forces needed to be upgraded in order to deal with potential conflicts abroad.

China currently boasts a military force of 2.3 million soldiers, the largest in the world.

The Chinese antique art collector who placed the winning bids on two highly controversial statues at a Christie’s auction in Paris last week is now refusing to pay out of protest.

The pieces in question are the bronze head sculptures of a rat and a rabbit – two out of twelve that were looted from Beijing’s Summer Palace in 1860 by Anglo-French forces during the Second Opium War.