CHINA: China displays its military might to dispel jitters about its growing arms budget

China opens a military camp to foreign reporters to put out the message: we have nothing to hide and you have nothing to fear. The People's Liberation Army, as China's military is formally known, is the world's largest armed force and guards its secrets jealously. Foreigners are almost never allowed on to their bases, let alone foreign journalists. But on Monday (July 30) more than 100 reporters visited the famous The People's Liberation Army Unit 196. This army has fought in many important battles including the so-called Anti-Japanese Aggression War and Anti-America Aggression War. The Unit's Colonel, Yang baodong, explained the purpose of the exercise: "We are opening our door to show the daily training of our unit and our military exercises. We want to demonstrate the good image of this civilized and powerful army," he said. China is keen to dispel jitters in Washington that its growing arms budget is far from transparent and that Beijing's rising military spending may destabilise East Asia. The Pentagon and U.S. Intelligence believe China's total real military-related spending for 2007 could be between $85 billion and $125 billion, far higher than its stated $45 billion in 2007, up 17.8 percent from the year before. Military analysts believe China's forces will continue to get stronger and pose a growing challenge to the U.S. military. China has recently unveiled a new fighter plane, blinded a U.S. satellite using a ground-based laser, and blasted one of its own satellites out of orbit with a ballistic missile. Beijing hosts the Olympics next year and Army Unit 196 - celebrating its 80th anniversary this year - will be responsible for security. Senior colonel Zhang Qingjiang said around Beijing and Tianjin region there hadn't been any incidents similar to those happening in other countries... "but we are training our soldiers on how to react and deal with situations that happened in other regions of the world". Still, while other Chinese ministries have made real efforts in recent years to set up a system of spokesmen and hold regular news conferences, the Ministry of Defence is virtually uncontactable and its officials rarely talk to the media. Barely mentioned were the bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen Square -- no, the unit was not involved -- and Taiwan, the self-ruled, democratic island China claims as its own. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary.

ITN Source | July 30, 2007

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