China's military modernization strategy is to deter US involvement in a cross-strait conflict and to prevail if the US does intervene, said the US-China Commission's annual report to Congress.
The report also warned that the removal of the EU arms embargo against China currently under consideration would accelerate Beijing's weapons modernization and dramatically enhance Chinese military capabilities.
"A key element of China's military modernization program has extensive acquisitions of foreign military technologies, particularly from Russia," the report said. "[The removal of the EU arms embargo would then] dramatically enhance Chinese military capabilities and might lead Russia to authorize the export of even more sophisticated systems to China."
The commission's report includes the details of its investigations into nine specific areas that were identified by Congress for the commission's review and recommendations.
These areas include China's economic reforms, US economic transfers to China, Chinese government's media control efforts and China's economic and security impact in Asia.
To examine China's military modernization and the cross-strait balance, the commission held a hearing on Feb. 6. In addition to experts and analysts, the commission heard from senior State and Defense Department officials on developments in US-China-Taiwan relations. The commission also supported two research projects on China's arms buildup.
According to the report, China's official defense budget allocation for weapons procurement showed an approximately 1,000 percent increase over a 12-year period, outpacing China's rapid growth in GDP.
The share of the budget devoted to weapons procurement also increased, from 16.3 percent in 1990 to 33.8 percent in 2002. Although the officially announced budget this year is more than US$25 billion, the report believed that the budget is grossly underreported.
It is estimated that China's total defense-related expenditures this year may be between US$50 to US$70 billion, ranking China third in defense spending after the US and Russia.
While China's missile threat is extremely serious, Taiwan has "limited dedicated military assets to guard against such an attack," the report said.
"China's increasing ballistic missile inventory may have already in fact altered the status quo in the Taiwan Strait," it said. "The necessity of maintaining a US policy of ambiguity concerning Taiwan's de jure status should not blind us to the de facto shift that is taking place in the military balance."
The report also pointed out that China's weapon development and acquisitions are an increasing challenge to American technical military superiority in the region.
"The Chinese strategy of improving its force options versus Taiwan and the ability to deter and counter US military intervention is fast becoming a reality," the report said. "China is no longer purchasing massive numbers of weapons systems but is pursuing initiatives to obtain licenses and to co-produce weapons for export."
This was a significant emerging issue, the report said, as this level of cooperation with Russia would help China's goal of being "a modern weapons-producing nation."
"It appears the Chinese buildup is designed to forestall measures that China perceives as steps toward independence by Taiwan and to coerce Taiwan to end the island's continued separate status," it said.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
A woman who allegedly spiked the food and drinks of an Australian man with rat poison, leaving him in intensive care, has been charged with attempted murder, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. The woman, identified by her surname Yang (楊), is accused of repeatedly poisoning Alex Shorey over the course of several months last year to prevent the Australian man from leaving Taiwan, prosecutors said in a statement. Shorey was evacuated back to Australia on May 3 last year after being admitted to intensive care in Taiwan. According to prosecutors, Yang put bromadiolone, a rodenticide that prevents blood from
China is likely to focus on its economy over the next four years and not set a timetable for attempting to annex Taiwan, a researcher at Beijing’s Tsinghua University wrote in an article published in Foreign Affairs magazine on Friday. In the article titled “Why China isn’t scared of Trump: US-Chinese tensions may rise, but his isolationism will help Beijing,” Chinese international studies researcher Yan Xuetong (閻學通) wrote that the US and China are unlikely to go to war over Taiwan in the next four years under US president-elect Donald Trump. While economic and military tensions between the US and China would
RSS