China issues white paper on national defense

China published on Monday a white paper on national defense, reaffirming its determination to crush any "Taiwan independence" attempt at all costs and reassure the world of its pursuit of peaceful development that will pose "no obstacle or threat to any one."

The 85-page white paper, the fifth of its kind since 1995, was titled "China's National Defense in 2004" and released by the Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet.

The publication of the white paper was intended to "illustrate China's national defense policies and the progress made in national defense and army building over the past two years," said the information office.

Observing that "peace and development remain the dominating themes of the times," the white paper says that "factors of uncertainty, instability and insecurity are on the increase" in the global security situation.

"The separatist activities of the 'Taiwan independence' forces have increasingly become the biggest immediate threat to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as peace and stability on both sides of the Taiwan Straits and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole," the white paper says.

"The Taiwan authorities under Chen Shui-bian have recklessly challenged the status quo that both sides of the Straits belong to one and the same China, and markedly escalated the 'Taiwan independence' activities designed to split China."

"The situation in the relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits is grim," it says.

The paper also criticizes the United States for its continuous arms sales to Taiwan which, it says, increases both "quantitatively and qualitatively," despite Washington's repeated commitment to adhere to the one-China policy and oppose "Taiwan independence."

The US action is "sending a wrong signal to the Taiwan authorities" and "does not serve a stable situation across the Taiwan Straits."

"It is the sacred responsibility of the Chinese armed forces to stop the 'Taiwan independence' forces from splitting the country," says the paper.

"We will never allow anyone to split Taiwan from China through whatever means," the paper says. "Should the Taiwan authorities go so far as to make a reckless attempt that constitutes a major incident of 'Taiwan independence', the Chinese people and armed forces will resolutely and thoroughly crush it at any cost."

The paper also points out that the Chinese government will continue to adhere to the basic principles of "peaceful reunification" and "one country, two systems" while handling the Taiwan issue.

"So long as the Taiwan authorities accept the one-China principle and stop their separatist activities aimed at 'Taiwan independence', cross-Straits talks can be held at any time on officially ending the state of hostility between the two sides, including on the establishment of a confidence-building mechanism in the military field," it says.

The white paper pledges that China will persist in taking the road of peaceful development and unswervingly pursue a national defense policy "defensive in nature."

"China will never go for expansion, nor will it ever seek hegemony," it says.

The paper says that the development goal for China to strive for in the first two decades of this century is to build a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way. "China will mainly rely on its own strength for development, and therefore poses no obstacle or threat to any one," it adds.

The white paper reveals in details China's defense spending and how the money was used in the past two years. It says that China, whose GDP (gross domestic product) in 2002 and 2003 was 10,517.234 billion yuan (1.267 trillion US dollars) and 11,725.194 billion yuan (1.412 trillion dollars) respectively, only spent 170.778 billion yuan (20.57 billion dollars) and 190.787 billion yuan (22.98 billion dollars) respectively on national defense in the corresponding year. China's defense budget for 2004 is 211.701 billion yuan (25.50 billion dollars).

"The absolute amount of China's defense expenditure has long been lower than those of some major Western countries, and the proportion to the GDP and state financial expenditure has also been relatively low," says the paper, citing figures of 2003 which showed that China's defense expenditure amounted to only 5.69 percent of that of the United States, 56.78 percent of that of Japan, 37.07 percent of that of the United Kingdom, and 75.94 percent of that of France.

The increased part of China's defense expenditure has primarily been used for increasing the salaries and allowances of the military personnel, further improving the social insurance system for servicemen, supporting the structural and organizational reform of the military, increasing investment in the development of high-caliber talents in the military, and moderately increasing equipment expenses, the white paper explains.

On the issues of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, the white paper says that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their means of delivery has become one of the major factors affecting the international security situation.

China maintains that the international community should safeguard the international regime of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation treaties and "persist in multilateralism," says the paper.

It says that China pursues a policy of not supporting, not encouraging and not assisting other countries to develop WMD, resolutely opposes the proliferation of WMD and actively participates in the diplomatic efforts of the international community to deal with non-proliferation issues.

"China's non-proliferation export control measures are basically in conformity with the current international practice," it adds.

"At present, the key to pushing forward the international arms control and disarmament process is to break the deadlock at the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva," it points out.

China supports the Conference on Disarmament in its efforts to start substantive work on four topics, namely nuclear disarmament, the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), security assurances to non-nuclear-weapon states, and prevention of an arms race in outer space.

"In the current situation, the importance and urgency of providing security assurances for non-nuclear-weapon states has become more prominent," the white paper says. "China supports the negotiation and conclusion of an international legally binding instrument on this issue."

According to the white paper, "uncertain factors linger in the settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula" and as a result, the foundation for the Six-Party Talks involving the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the United States, China, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan "is not solid enough."

The white paper also makes detailed introduction of China's military reform with Chinese characteristics, management of the defense assets, military service system, national defense mobilization and reserve force building, science, technology and industry for national defense, and relations between the armed forces and the people, as well as the country's security cooperation with the international community.

Facts & Figures: China's national defense

Defense expenditure: Pursuant to the National Defense Law, the Chinese government follows the guiding principle of the coordinated development of national defense and economy. China's GDP in 2002 and 2003 was 10,517.234 billion yuan and 11,725.194 billion yuan respectively. Its defense expenditure in 2002 and 2003 was 170.778 billion yuan and 190.787 billion yuan respectively. Its defense budget for 2004 is 211.701 billion yuan.

The increased part of the defense expenditure has primarily been used for increasing the salaries and allowances of the military personnel, further improving the social insurance system for servicemen, supporting the structural and organizational reform of the military; increasing investment in the development of high-caliber talents in the military; moderately increasing equipment expenses.

China's defense expenditure lower than major Western countries': In the past two years, the percentages of China's annual defense expenditure to its GDP and to the state financial expenditure in the same period have remained basically stable. For most of the years since the 1990s, the growth rate of China's defense expenditure has been lower than that of the state financial expenditure.

The absolute amount of China's defense expenditure has long been lower than those of some major Western countries, and the proportion to the GDP and state financial expenditure has also been relatively low. In 2003, China's defense expenditure amounted to only 5.69 percent of that of the United States, 56.78 percent of that of Japan, 37.07 percent of that of the United Kingdom, and75.94 percent of that of France.

10 million militia members: As an important component of the Chinese armed forces and the assistant and backup forces of the PLA, the militia force is an armed organization composed of the masses not released from their regular work. The militia is divided into two categories - the ordinary and the primary militia. The primary militia comprises rapid reaction detachments, infantry detachments, specialized technical detachments and detachments with corresponding specialties. There are now 10 million primary militia members in China.

Defense Education: In 2003, some 1,100 colleges and universities and 11,500 senior high schools throughout China conducted military training as required and more than 8 million students received such training.

Peaceful use of military technology:China has made remarkable progress in putting military industrial technology to civil use in the past two years. In 2003, the output value of civilian products rose by 20 percent as compared with that of the previous year, accounting for more than 65 percent of the total output value of the defense-related science, technology and industry.

China's mainland now has nine nuclear power generating sets in operation, the total installed capacity of which is 7.01 million KW. Another two, each with an installed capacity of 1.06 million KW, are now under construction. In 2003, China's nuclear power production was 43.3 billion KWH, accounting for 2.3 percent of its total power production.

41 successful space launches: Major breakthroughs have been made in space technologies for civil use. Since October 1996, China has succeeded in 41 space launches. The successful launching of the "Shenzhou 5" spaceship in October 2003 sent China's first astronaut into space. A lunar probe project was officially started in January 2004, and a lunar orbiting exploration is scheduled to be carried out by the end of 2007.

3,362 peacekeepers: Since its first dispatch of military observers to the United Nations peacekeeping operations in 1990, China has sent 3,362 military personnel to 13 UN peacekeeping operations. Since January 2000, China has sent 404 policemen to the peacekeeping operations in six UN peacekeeping task areas including East Timor. In 2004, China has sent 59 policemen to East Timor, Liberia, Afghanistan, Kosovo of Serbia-Herzegovina and Haiti, and a 125-member organic police detachment to Haiti to serve with MINUSTAH at the request of the UN. In the past 14 years, six Chinese servicemen lost their lives and dozens wounded in UN peacekeeping operations.

At present, 845 PLA personnel are working in eight UN peacekeeping task areas.

Military relations with more than 150 countries: China has established military relations with more than 150 countries in the world. It has set up over 100 military attache's offices in its embassies abroad, and 85 countries have set up military attache's offices in China. Over the past two years, the PLA has sent high-level military delegations to over 60 countries, and played host to over 130 delegations of military leaders from over 70 countries.

Military students exchanged: In recent years, the PLA has sent over 1,000 military students to more than 20 countries, and 19 military colleges and universities in China have established inter-collegiate exchange relations with their counterparts in 25 countries, including the United States and Russia. Over the past two years, 1,245 military personnel from 91 countries have come to study in Chinese military colleges and universities, and officers from 44 of these countries have participated in the International Symposium Course hosted by the PLA National Defense University.

Mine clearance efforts: China attaches great importance to the solution of the humanitarian issue arising from landmines. After providing assistance to Eritrea in 2002, China sent another group of mine clearance experts to that country to give guidance on de-mining operations in 2003, trained a total of 120 mine clearance specialists for Eritrea and provided the country with de-mining equipment.