The men were an elite force of soldiers from the Chinese People's Liberation Army deployed on a mission to undermine archrival Taiwan. They didn't come armed with missiles or tanks. Their weapon was water.
The 20 troops from a PLA water supply regiment were being dispatched to Liberia. In return, the West African nation was cutting diplomatic ties with Taiwan -- an illustration of how China's PLA is becoming an increasingly sophisticated tool of foreign policy.
PHOTO: EPA
The military and relations with Taiwan will be on the minds of China's leaders as they meet during the annual legislative session, the National People's Congress, which convened yesterday. The military budget is to be announced today, and further increases are expected.
"We will energetically carry forward military reforms with Chinese characteristics and work hard to modernize national defense and armed forces to a higher stage of development," Premier Wen Jiabao said at the opening session.
Also in the works is development of "new and high-technology weaponry and equipment" and the training of "a new type of highly competent military personnel," according to the government's Xinhua News Agency.
Military delegates to the NPC, a powerful lobby, expect adherence to dogma on Taiwan as well as a vigorous defense of China's international economic and military security.
At the top of their list: the well-being of the 2.5-million-strong PLA, a sprawling organization of low-paid and poorly-trained men, decrepit equipment and outdated philosophy.
Defense spending rose by 9.6 percent last year to US$22.4 billion, a slight slowing after 13 years of double-digit growth -- increases that have raised alarm abroad. Actual spending is believed higher -- as much as US$55 billion, foreign experts say -- because the total doesn't include weapons purchases.
But military spending is "still at a fairly low level -- barely enough to keep things going," the military's chief finance official, Major General Ding Jiye, said at last year's congress.
The generals may be in a position to make more demands following a year of spectacular triumphs and quiet developments.
In October, the military-backed space program successfully sent China's first astronaut into space -- a publicity triumph praised as a sign of the PLA's growing sophistication.
The military also edged toward greater cooperation. Land forces joined in combined exercises with five Central Asian nations. The navy held first-ever joint exercises separately off Shanghai with ships from India and Pakistan. And a visit by the US Pacific fleet flagship to Shanghai last month was reciprocated with rare tours of one of China's most sophisticated missile frigates.
China has tried to jump-start relations with the US military that were largely frozen after the April 2001 collision between an American spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet. Recent visits included a trip to Beijing by the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"Intensified military exchanges between the two countries ... not only are in the interests of the two countries, but also conform to and promote the trends of world peace and development," military writer Dai Er wrote in the official People's Liberation Army Daily last week.
But the PLA remains a nationalistic force suspicious of the US and Japan, which are seen as constraints on China's regional power and absorption of Taiwan.
Chinese generals have been quoted as saying China would "pay any price" to block Taiwan's independence.
"We are prepared to pay these costs to uphold national unity and territorial integrity," wrote Brigadier General Peng Guangqian of the Academy of Military Science.
Yet despite the occasional tough talk, the military has been restrained over the issue -- a far cry from eight years ago, when the PLA staged war games and fired missiles into the Taiwan Strait in an attempt to intimidate voters.
Nor are tensions with Taiwan likely to affect long-term planning goals, observers say.
"They might accelerate some programs due to Taiwan, but the PLA is really keeping to a long-term schedule for rise to power," said Robert Karniol, Asia-Pacific editor for Jane's Defense Weekly.
Meanwhile, the military continues efforts to shed fat and add muscle with plans to cut hundreds of thousands of troops over coming years.
China is also hoping to convince the EU to lift a 15-year-old ban on weapons sales -- over the objections of the US and several EU member states.
But while access to more sophisticated gear would have an impact, it's still a small part of the overall strategy of influence: As demonstrated in Liberia -- China's new ally as of last October -- clean drinking water may be as important as bombs.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS