China Denounces U.S. Missile Report
Associated Press
August 1, 2003
BEIJING - China on Friday denounced a U.S. report saying it was aiming more
missiles at rival Taiwan, and accused Washington of making excuses to sell
weapons to the island's government.
The report, which the Pentagon released Wednesday, said China was acquiring
short-range missiles at a much faster rate than previously thought. It said
preparing for potential conflict with Taiwan was the "primary driver" of
China's military modernization.
"The goal is an excuse to sell advanced weapons to Taiwan and fabricate
public opinion," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a written statement.
"The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute
opposition."
The three-sentence Foreign Ministry statement didn't respond to the Pentagon
report's assertion that China has 450 short-range ballistic missiles and is
adding 75 missiles a year. That is an increase over a report from last year,
which said China was adding to its arsenal at a rate of 50 missiles a year.
The U.S. report also noted China's recent acquisition of Russian-made
submarines that could be used to cut off shipping to Taiwan or threaten U.S.
forces in a conflict with the island.
China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since splitting in 1949 amid
civil war. The communist Beijing government claims the island as its own
territory and has threatened to capture it by force.
The United States is the main arms supplier to Taiwan's popularly elected
government.
China is spending heavily on modernizing its 2.5 million-member military,
the world's largest. Its budget has swelled nearly every year for the past
decade.
Foreign analysts regard missiles as one of China's strongest military
technologies, and say short-range ballistic missiles could play a key role
in any conflict with Taiwan.
In addition, Beijing has spent billions of dollars a year on acquiring
Russian-made supersonic fighter jets, submarines
and other advanced weaponry.
http://www.military.com/NewsContent?file=FL_china_080103
--
"From the brief time that we did spend occupying Iraqi territory after the
war, I am certain that had we taken all of Iraq, we would have been like the
dinosaur in the tar pit – we would still be there, and we, not the United
Nations, would be bearing the costs of the occupation. This is a burden I am
sure the beleaguered American taxpayer would not have been happy to take
on."
– Norman Schwarzkopf, from his 1993 autobiography, "It Doesn't Take a Hero."
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