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China to Washington - Quit looking at my boobs ... er... budget
posted Sunday, 4 March 2007
After a brief lull, it would appear that the contentious and contorted issue of China's military spending is back in the headlines once more. Bringing with it contention, controversy, and some really "liberal" translations.
Hot on the heals of a strongly statement from US Vice-President Dick Cheney - calling on China to open its military books to international scrutiny - comes an equally strongly worded rebuttal from the Chinese foreign ministry Qin Gang who , this Friday, denounced America as being a "voyeuristic neighbor", and called on it to cease and desist requesting information on it's military spending that Washington, from Beijing's perspective, had no right to ask for.
Speaking before the Chinese media, Qin laid down an eight point rebuttal starting by noting that China, as a developing nation, was in no position to threaten its more technologically advanced neighbors, before moving on to reiterate the common argument that Beijing had no history of hegemony and no intention of imposing itself on others - a strong dig at the US which has been accused of steadily acting to build a series of subservient Soviet style satellite states around the world in order to push its influence and security concerns further from its geographic borders - and finally stating Beijing's belief in multilateral actions - another dig at the US and it's present unilateralist administration.
The Numbers Game
According to official figures, Beijing's military budget rose by 14.7% - to $US36.6 Billion - in 2006, and it is scheduled to rise another 17.8% this year. However, the exact amount that China is spending remains unclear for two key reasons.
The first of these reasons is the abject lack of transparency that exists in China, with the Beijing considering information that would be publicly available in other countries, to be national secrets, thus making it highly unlikely, in international eyes, that Chinese officials have made a full and accurate disclosure, or that those making the disclosures have access to all of the figures in the first place.
The second of these reasons is the fact that the Chinese military is both a heavy investor in commercial industry, and a user of outsourcing. As such, the PLA can now produce aircrafts and heavy truck for commercial use, while civilian workers in civilian research institutes and factories can design and manufacture military avionics and transport vehicles, and so on. Making it difficult to tell where military spending begins or ends.
Current international estimates put China's true military budget at closer to $US82 Billion for the period the period 2005/2006. However, this remains significantly lower than US spending which, for the same period, reached approximately $US522 Billion, and accounted 19% of the total US federal budget for that period.
Internally Transparent
Ironically, while the US has a greater level of transparency that China when it comes to military spending, much of this openness is mandated by regulations governing internal oversight of government spending, and was originally put in place to enable elected officials and citizens to see how tax dollars were being spent, rather than for reasons of international goodwill.
A New Great Wall?
Equally ironic is the way in which China has been spending its enhanced military budget. Much of it being confined to a few areas, including:
China currently has only minimal force projection capabilities as it lacks both the infrastructure to transport its forces overseas, and the capabilities to defend them during transit. As such China watchers estimate that China posses no immediate threat to the US or its allies, and only a missile/shipping threat to its near neighbors, which could not be adequately backed up by troops beyond the region of the Taiwan straights.
Translation Anomalies
On a lighter note, there remains some confusion in the western press as to the exact contents of Qin's speech, with a number of foreign media outlets, including the VOA and Reuters carrying stories that claim that Qin compared the US to a predatory sexual deviant, and quoting him as accusing the US pawing at China's undergarments and attempting to see its genitals in the same manner that a rapist or pedophile might.
However, this does not match a translation provided on the official Chinese government website, or the by organizations such as the BBC, which quote Qin as comparing the US to a nosy neighbor attempting to look through cracks in the door and demanding to see inside China's home rather its undergarments.
Hot on the heals of a strongly statement from US Vice-President Dick Cheney - calling on China to open its military books to international scrutiny - comes an equally strongly worded rebuttal from the Chinese foreign ministry Qin Gang who , this Friday, denounced America as being a "voyeuristic neighbor", and called on it to cease and desist requesting information on it's military spending that Washington, from Beijing's perspective, had no right to ask for.
Speaking before the Chinese media, Qin laid down an eight point rebuttal starting by noting that China, as a developing nation, was in no position to threaten its more technologically advanced neighbors, before moving on to reiterate the common argument that Beijing had no history of hegemony and no intention of imposing itself on others - a strong dig at the US which has been accused of steadily acting to build a series of subservient Soviet style satellite states around the world in order to push its influence and security concerns further from its geographic borders - and finally stating Beijing's belief in multilateral actions - another dig at the US and it's present unilateralist administration.
The Numbers Game
According to official figures, Beijing's military budget rose by 14.7% - to $US36.6 Billion - in 2006, and it is scheduled to rise another 17.8% this year. However, the exact amount that China is spending remains unclear for two key reasons.
The first of these reasons is the abject lack of transparency that exists in China, with the Beijing considering information that would be publicly available in other countries, to be national secrets, thus making it highly unlikely, in international eyes, that Chinese officials have made a full and accurate disclosure, or that those making the disclosures have access to all of the figures in the first place.
The second of these reasons is the fact that the Chinese military is both a heavy investor in commercial industry, and a user of outsourcing. As such, the PLA can now produce aircrafts and heavy truck for commercial use, while civilian workers in civilian research institutes and factories can design and manufacture military avionics and transport vehicles, and so on. Making it difficult to tell where military spending begins or ends.
Current international estimates put China's true military budget at closer to $US82 Billion for the period the period 2005/2006. However, this remains significantly lower than US spending which, for the same period, reached approximately $US522 Billion, and accounted 19% of the total US federal budget for that period.
Internally Transparent
Ironically, while the US has a greater level of transparency that China when it comes to military spending, much of this openness is mandated by regulations governing internal oversight of government spending, and was originally put in place to enable elected officials and citizens to see how tax dollars were being spent, rather than for reasons of international goodwill.
A New Great Wall?
Equally ironic is the way in which China has been spending its enhanced military budget. Much of it being confined to a few areas, including:
- Distributed domestic communications and command and control systems
- Improved training and equipment for military personnel
- The acquisition manpower reduction technologies: Systems designed to allow 1 man to a job previously done by 2 or more people
- The acquisition of "exotic countermeasure system": System designed to mitigate or limit the technological edge of a more advanced opponent (anti satellite systems, anti stealth technology, etc).
| "China maintains a reasonable national defense strength to protect our sovereignty, security, territorial integrity and national unity. Not for expansion, and certainly not for wars of aggression abroad." Qin Gang, spokesperson, Foreign Ministry, China |
China currently has only minimal force projection capabilities as it lacks both the infrastructure to transport its forces overseas, and the capabilities to defend them during transit. As such China watchers estimate that China posses no immediate threat to the US or its allies, and only a missile/shipping threat to its near neighbors, which could not be adequately backed up by troops beyond the region of the Taiwan straights.
Translation Anomalies
On a lighter note, there remains some confusion in the western press as to the exact contents of Qin's speech, with a number of foreign media outlets, including the VOA and Reuters carrying stories that claim that Qin compared the US to a predatory sexual deviant, and quoting him as accusing the US pawing at China's undergarments and attempting to see its genitals in the same manner that a rapist or pedophile might.
| "If someone always tears through your clothes and even wants to lift open your underwear, saying "Let me see what is inside", how would you feel? Would you want to call the police?" Qin Gang, spokesperson, Foreign Ministry, China (http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USPEK26244320070301) (http://voanews.com/english/mobile/displaystory.cfm?id=329229&metadataid=846) |
However, this does not match a translation provided on the official Chinese government website, or the by organizations such as the BBC, which quote Qin as comparing the US to a nosy neighbor attempting to look through cracks in the door and demanding to see inside China's home rather its undergarments.
| "What's your response if your neighbor keeps peeking into your house through a crack in the door and yelling 'Open the door, let's see what's inside'? Will you call the police?" Qin Gang, spokesperson, Foreign Ministry, China (http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/fyrth/t300654.htm) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6416633.stm) |
The Biggest threat China poses to the US is.......?
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