Military build-up in China alarms US

China appears on track to forge a modern military by 2020, a rapid build-up that could be potentially destabilising to the Asia-Pacific region, the Pentagon has said.

In a report, the Pentagon said Beijing has managed to close critical technological gaps and is rapidly modernising its military equipment, all with an eye on preventing possible American and allied intervention in a conflict with Taiwan, the island fastness of the former republican leadership of pre-Communist China.

The report also warns that the military expansion could increasingly stretch to the western Pacific to deny the US and its allies access.

“The pace and scope of China’s sustained military investments have allowed China to pursue capabilities that we believe are potentially destabilising to regional military balances, increase the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation and may contribute to regional tensions and anxieties,” said Michael Schiffer, the US deputy assistant secretary of defence for East Asia.

China’s state news agency yesterday condemned the Pentagon report, calling its account of Beijing’s weapons modernisation drive an alarmist “cock-and-bull story”.

The Chinese government has yet to give its response, which is likely to be dismissive, but the state-run Xinhua news agency set the tone.

“The allegation is an utterly cock-and-bull story about the Chinese military based on a wild guess and illogical reasoning,” the English-language Xinhua commentary said. “China, which has adhered to a defensive military policy, with its rising economic clout and sprawling commercial and strategic interests around the world, has every right to build a competent military,” the commentary said.

The Pentagon’s report was released days after US vice president Joe Biden finished a visit to China dominated by mutual vows of co-operation and goodwill. The annual quarrel over the Pentagon report could, at least briefly, dampen the upbeat tone set by Mr Biden’s visit, which focused on economic issues.

Fuelled by China’s booming economy, the People’s Liberation Army’s weapons’ upgrades in the past decade have exceeded many earlier US forecasts.

China’s aircraft carrier programme, cyber warfare capabilities and anti-satellite missiles have unsettled neighbours as well as Washington.

China, for its part, sees its military modernisation as a rightful extension of its growing economic status, and it staunchly defends its military spending as defensive in nature.

The Pentagon flagged concerns about Beijing’s widening military edge over Taiwan, the self-ruled island China sees as an illegitimate breakaway province. China cut off ties with the US military for most of last year to protest at an American arms package for Taiwan. But officials in Taiwan have been outspoken about their need of US weapons.

“Mainland China has been increasing its military budget, widening the gap of the military forces between Taiwan and China.

“The US is fully aware of the situation,” Taiwan’s defence spokesman Luo Shou-he said.