WASHINGTON, May 25: The US is concerned over China’s military build-up, including deployment of long-range ballistic nuclear missiles, via a ballooning and non-transparent budget, an annual Pentagon report said on Friday.
China’s pursuit of weapons strategies `is expanding from the traditional land, air, and sea dimensions of the modern battlefield to include space and cyberspace’, the Pentagon’s report on China's military power said.
“The expanding military capabilities of China’s armed forces are a major factor in changing East Asian military balances; improvements in China's strategic capabilities have ramifications far beyond the Asia-Pacific region,” it added.
The report also raised questions about Beijing's lack of transparency in its defence budgeting.
Although Beijing announced an official defence budget figure of $45 billion for 2007, the US Defence Intelligence Agency estimates China’s total military-related spending for this year could be up to $125 billion.
“China’s published defence budget does not include large categories of expenditure, including expenses for strategic forces, foreign acquisitions, military-related research and development, and China’s paramilitary forces,” the report said.
The report, which goes before Congress, also expressed concerns over China’s deployment of ballistic nuclear missiles that have the range to hit the United States.
“China is developing and testing offensive missiles, forming additional missile units, upgrading qualitatively certain missile systems, and developing methods to counter ballistic missile defences,” it said.
The report highlighted the development of a new JIN-class submarine equipped to carry a nuclear-powered ballistic missile with a wide-firing range capability of more than 8,000 kilometres.
The Pentagon is also concerned about Beijing’s preparations later this year to deploy a new mobile, land-based DF-31A intercontinental ballistic missile whose target range reportedly covers the whole of the United States.
“The addition of the DF-31 family of missiles and the JL-2 and JIN-class SSBNs (nuclear ballistic missile submarines) will give China a more survivable and flexible nuclear force,” it said.
“New air- and ground-launched cruise missiles that could perform nuclear missions will similarly improve the survivability and flexibility of China's nuclear forces,” it added.
The United States is reportedly surprised by the pace of development of the JIN class submarine that could threaten the nuclear balance by providing China with a more robust nuclear deterrent.
The report also pointed out that China’s counterspace programme -- punctuated by the January 2007 successful test of an anti-satellite weapon -- posed `dangers to human space flight and put at risk the assets of all space-faring nations’. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon report was no exaggeration of the threat posed by China.
“But it paints a picture of a country that is devoting substantial resources to the military and developing, as I say, some very sophisticated capabilities,” he said on Thursday.
“It would be nice to hear firsthand from the Chinese how they view these things. We wish that there were greater transparency, that they would talk more about what their intentions are, what their strategies are,” he said.
Last year’s report concluded that while Taiwan appears to be the near-term focus of China’s military spending, the build-up poses a potential threat to the United States over the longer term.—AFP
