Top Chinese diplomat tells US to 'shut up' on arms spending

LONDON AFP 17/08/2006 17:50


China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, throwing diplomatic language to the wind, has told the United States in no uncertain terms to "shut up and keep quiet" on the subject of Beijing's growing military spending.

Interviewed for a BBC radio programme on the topic Thursday, Sha Zukang also said China would "do the business" and sacrifice its own people's lives if any nation supported a declaration of independence by Taiwan.

Responding to jitters within the Bush administration about Beijing's spiraling military budget, Sha said the United States itself accounts for half of the entire world's military spending.

"The China population is six times or five times that of the United States," he said. "Why blame China?... It's better for the US to shut up and keep quiet. It's much, much better."

His voice rising, Sha continued: "It's the US's sovereign right to do whatever they deem good for them -- but don't tell us what is good for China. Thank you very much!"

Sha was equally explicit on Taiwan declaring independence with US backing -- a prospect that the BBC programme, by former Beijing correspondent Carrie Gracie, called the motivating factor behind Chinese military spending.

"The moment Taiwan declares independence, supported by whoever, China will have no choice," he said.

"We will do the business through whatever means available to my government. Nobody should have any illusions on that. We will do the business at any cost."

He added: "It's not a matter of how big Taiwan is, but for China, one inch of the territory is more valuable than the life of our people. We will never concede on that."

China's rising military spending, which has grown by double digits for much of the last 15 years, has caused concern in the United States and amongst China's neighbors in Asia.

In March the National People's Congress (parliament), largely a rubber-stamp for decisions taken at the top level of the Chinese Communist Party, approved a 14.7-percent increase in military spending to 35 billion dollars (27 billion euros) this year.

Although this is paltry compared to the 419 billion dollar (325 billion euro) US defense budget in 2006, the Pentagon last year estimated that China's defense spending was two to three times the publicly announced figure.

In a speech in Beijing in July, Defence Minister Cao Gangchuan said modernization of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) remained a priority, the China News Service reported.

"The entire military must eye the historic destiny of China's military in the new century and new era and push forward the main line of a Chinese-style revolution in military affairs," he was quoted as saying.

He added: "We must unswervingly fulfill our sacred duty to defend state sovereignty, territorial integrity and security and never tolerate Taiwan independence and never permit Taiwan independence forces under any name or under any circumstances or form to split Taiwan from the motherland."

haddock,

just a food for thought.

we all know how powerful china and its military is. we all know it has one of the few GDPs in this planet which is nearly approaching a double digit. but US have not only themselves but EU and possibly india into the equation against china. China, no matter how strong, IS a closed market and their policies are inherent per se. Amidst this, do you still feel that China can/will outmart US? If yes, how?

LooTe

I remember US used to be very proud of B2 which was spying in chinese territory and which they believed was not conspicous to radar. but the american proud of their technology had to bite the dust when chinese bombed that plane down. well this was the news few years ago.

Captain .. you are right.. the impact of millions is greater in India than impact of biilions in US.i agree..but what india and china can't over come is the magnet that pulls them to the ground ..that is population..the greater difference of haves and havenot.
also there is a threshold . for these kind of dependent economy.

ok even if the on shore projects are with indians ..it is still good for usa in several different way..look how they easily change the policies ..now 165K h1 every year from 65 k ..see american policy changes by looking at circumstances..
hurray,
ok granted india and china had their own. but they were enclose but look at the cunning ness and smartness of white ..they become emperor of the earth!!

Agreed. China is open enough to be a manufacturing and trading powerhouse but, as you mentioned, still not open enough to be a major financial hub and a power on the global stage. The way I look at it is, necessity is the mother of invention, and as the need arises the Chinese will be forced to open up more and refine their financial institutions, banking and insurance laws, and do a better job with fraud and copyright infringement. Can this be done within a communist framework or will China need a democracy to achieve this is still a topic of debate amongst both Chinese and foreigners. If things come to a point where the political system becomes a constraining factor on the aspirations of the Chinese, I am of the opinion we could see it replaced by a system that will facilitate such aspirations.

Also, as Taiwan and Korea have shown, economic liberalization is often followed by a political one. These days people in Chines cities, who have moved from the villages, are forming action committees to protest things like poor housing management and the communist party has been allowing such activities so far. Given these signs and China's hot hot economy, I feel there are reasonable chances that either the communist party will need to open up more or will be sidelined from power.

Again, I should stressed the communists are pretty entrenched in Beijing, but they will be forced to change things as per the need of the times. If the past is anything to go by, they have been pretty good at doing this for the last 20 years.

The last reply was for Loote.

China will (and probaly is ) stronger millitary nation and that's what US should be worried about more than anything else.
If say in place of north korea if china makes nuclear weapon can US risk to warn attacking china.

one of the reasons behind chinese economic prosperity is cheap labor they have. they are able to go for mass production and sell their products in low unit cost yet make a lucrative profit in whole.

once china will emerge as a democratic nation. first thing that will happen is their labor cost will rise and hence the cost of their products. this will have a negative impact on their sales and hence in the economy. unless they resort to bilateral trade with foreign countries, the economic growth will only be a distant dream. hence there is a trade off as well in being an open market.

the bottom line is, china have to either shake hands with US or rise as a closed market which seems to bring a rather dicey future for them. we all know what happened to the former soviet union.

LooTe

IMI , you bring up a great point about the population of these two countries. It will be interesting to see how this impacts their power in the long run. Conventional thinking tends to say such large populations are a liability. The biggest challenge both countries have is to ensure they have a manageable population. I don't want to get into too much details, but, with the West aging faster than India and China, these large populations which would normally be thought of as liability, could in fact turn out to be quite the opposite. The West will need younger people from emerging economies to do their work. Maybe that will be the thing that finally pulls millions out of poverty - something neither the communists in China nor the Nehruvian socialists in India could do on their own.

Loote, wage inflation has always been an issue in capitalism since the industrial revolution and it will be interesting to see how these two countries manage this. While both India and China offer tremendous potential, there is a danger with hyping what they are capable of and your comment is a reminder of that. So sticking to objective facts, one trend I have found very interesting is the overseas investment patterns of Indian and Chinese firms. For example, Indian and Chinese firms are vying for oil feilds and oil companies around the world. Indian IT firms were early entrants into the software services market in India and Vietnam. I expect the trend to continue and I am sure we will all continue to monitor it to get a better sense of where these economies are headed over the next couple of decades.

"do you still feel that China can/will outmart US?"

US will bring its own downfall.
Look at the younger generation of americans. Can you imagine the heavy beer drinking, pot smoking, popular culture following, extravagantly money spending, young americans will one day rule this world like their forefathers did? America's education system in schools is one of the worst in the world. Very few of their colleges and universities are competitive at world stage. Most of them happily grand diplomas and A's to students. The students don't care about what they learn but how many A's they have in their transcripts. They have one of the worst doctors in the world. Granted that they have money to spend on research and drugs to find out cure for diseases. But when it comes to minor injuries and illness, their doctors have no clue but to provide anti-biotic. Just look at their current president. A cocaine addict, arrogant and ignorant frat-boy doing all the damages to the country due to his failing foreign policies. Right now America thrives due to innovations and commitment of older generations. Capitalism has made few very rich and has widened the gap between them and the middle class. On the other hand it has also made more americans poor thus again widening the gap between lower class and middle class. Unlike socialist Europe where there is a protection net for the citizens when they fall off the cliff, US has nothing. A poor in Nepal is probably better off than the poor in US, especially if you consider health care and education.

"They have one of the worst doctors in the world"

Hurray, come on, you can't make a generalization like that - it is simply not true. What is the factual/statistical basis for making this allegation?

" A poor in Nepal is probably better off than the poor in US, especially if you consider health care and education. "

The data says quite the opposite. Check the world bank annual report : - http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/EXTANNREP/EXTANNREP2K5/0,,contentMDK:20655910~menuPK:1578915~pagePK:64168445~piPK:64168309~theSitePK:1397343,00.html

Hurray.

i beg to differ with you.

"americans have the worst doctors in the world?"
-- where is that coming from? Do you have stats to support your argument?

"Very few of their colleges and universities are competitive at world stage."

--Do you know how many chinese or Indian or Japanese universities are on the top 100 list?

"A poor in Nepal is probably better off than the poor in US"

--That is one of the stupid remarks i have read in a while. no offence though.

I agree that capitalism may increase the gap between middle and lower class. but that will still not mean anything to the coutry's economy. India have one of the best economic growths (second only to china i believe). but look at the number of poors and beggars in India.

US will not fall until there is a cataclysmic economic disaster which seems improbable at the moment and for many years to come.

LooTe

Read the book ,"The World is flat."by Thomas Friedman.

" US will not fall until there is a cataclysmic economic disaster which seems improbable at the moment and for many years to come. "

Loote, my turn for some food for thought :) I think oil prices at $15 per gallon might be the catalyst (if and when it happens)

Tisa - Read it and liked it.

hahaha haddock... true that!

that's why i am for US in the war against terror (middle east) ;). i am already broke paying 3 bucks a gallon of gas for my car. i walk these days hehe..

on a serious note,
i think US is craving for a settlement of the issues against middle east...i hope they will....without further damage of people's lives and violation to human rights...i have my fingers crossed though :)

LooTe

"The World is flat."by Thomas Friedman.

Read it.
Liked it.
Agreed with most of it.
But there was not much new ideas.

But who the fek am I. He is Tom Friedman.

the first one in your list of threats to US looks ominous to me. :). Rest two are not so...

LooTe

Ok, I take back my generalizations. Yeah it was a bit childish. I was speaking from my personal experience and the fact that I see everyday.

The average American college students and their level of education and skill is not in comparison with their European, Indian and Chinese companion. And this is why their president keeps on telling them to go back to school to acquire more knowledge and skill so that they can compete with Indians and Chinese. Most of the engineering and now more of the science departments on US universities are flooded by foreign students, mainly Indians and Chinese. And these students go on to work for a high paying job in a company managed by Americans, may be for a while. But we are seeing that as soon as they find opportunities in their own countries, which is happening more and more, they leave US. This trend will grow further more with most of the money invested in China and India.
All the outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries for cheaper labor may make few capitalists in US rich, majority of americans are left jobless. And this is how the gap between classes are widening. And as for what their president's been saying, for what are they going to compete when most of the opportunities are exported.
And let's not forget the catastrophic american foreign policies we have seen in recent years. America so far has been exploiting poorer countries to their benifits. They have 5% of the world's population and yet the consume more than 50% of world's natural resources contributing to 30% of world's pollution. Even with $3/gallon, the gas in US is still one of the cheapest in the world. So now that their foreign relations are deterioting, the are bound to fall back.

What a shame !!!! A man of his position speak like the way he did to BBC.