WASHINGTON, March 3, 2008 – China not only is a rising international
economic power, but also is a rising military power with new and
developing capabilities that have global implications, according to
the 2008 China Military Power Report released today.David Sedney, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia,
announces the release to Congress of the 2008 Defense Department
Report on the Military Power of the People's Republic of China,
during a March 3, 2008, Pentagon news conference. Photo by R.D. Ward
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image
available.
The annual report mandated by Congress analyzes China’s military
development and strategy and says that the country spent as much as
$139 billion, more than three times its announced defense budget,
modernizing its military forces last year.That amount dwarfs the military budgets of Russia, Japan and South
Korea, and has been the driving force behind the country’s military
transformation, fueled by the acquisition of advanced foreign weapons
and far-reaching organizational and doctrinal reforms.Combined with what Defense Department officials call a lack of
transparency, the military development poses risks to stability by
increasing the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation, the
report concludes.“China’s military buildup has been characterized by opacity, but
(there is an) inability by both people in the region and people
around the world to really know what ties together the capabilities
that China’s acquiring with the intentions it has,” said David
Sedney, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia. “So
there are a lot of areas where there is misunderstanding. There are a
lot of areas where there is lack of knowledge.”