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China Reform Monitor
No. 688, April 1, 2008
American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, DC
PLA
buildup ruffles Pentagon feathers;
Communist Party hijacked... by capitalists
Editors:
Ilan Berman and Jeff Smith
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[Beginning with our next issue, AFPC Fellow in
Asia Studies Joshua Eisenman will return to the helm of the China Reform
Monitor.]
February 29:
A much-anticipated U.S.-China military “hotline” two years in the making has
been given the green light by a group of American and Chinese defense officials
in Shanghai. In order to “reduce the risk of misunderstanding” the two
militaries – in closer contact than ever in the shrinking Pacific – will now
have direct access to each other’s top brass in the event of a crisis.
According to
the Press Trust of India, the Shanghai meeting also generated a spin-off
agreement opening cooperation between the two countries’ military archives in
the hopes of recovering missing US military personnel from the Korean War.
March 3:
In the past, the Pentagon’s congressionally-mandated annual report on China’s
military power has raised alarm about China’s rapidly expanding military budget
and its interest in unconventional and asymmetric weaponry. This year’s report
is no different.
Citing the new study, CNN notes that China’s military last year was
estimated at between $97 and $139 billion – several times higher than Beijing’s
own official numbers would indicate. Most alarming for the Pentagon has been a
presumed expansion in the cyber-warfare budget, reflected in a string of
“intrusions” into sensitive military computer networks in 2007. China’s January
2007 anti-satellite test, and its dedication to improving its nuclear-capable
intercontinental ballistic missiles, also top the DoD’s list of concerns.
Much of China’s military modernization appears guided by the potential for a
conflict over Taiwan – and the possibility of having to deter a U.S.
intervention in the event of such hostilities. Some changes, however, are more
fundamental and long-term in nature: China is undertaking a “comprehensive
transformation from a mass army designed for protracted wars of attrition on its
territory to one capable of fighting and winning short-duration, high-intensity
conflicts along its periphery and against high-tech adversaries,” the study
says. This transformation, according to the report, would give China “the
greatest potential to compete militarily with the [U.S.]… that could, over time,
offset traditional U.S. military advantages.”
March 16:
Scholars at China’s top think tanks and universities are convinced that the
foreign policy of this communist country has been “hijacked” by an old foe:
Chinese capitalists.
According to the Financial Times, respected officials in Beijing have
begun leveling charges at Chinese multinationals, dismayed by the firms’ sole
focus on “economic considerations.” Zhu Feng of the Centre for International and
Strategic Studies at Peking University finds the behavior of giant firms such as
PetroChina “worrisome.” “The state-owned companies have become very powerful
interest groups,” he says. “They even hijacked China’s foreign policy in Sudan.”
March 17:
Much of the world is familiar with China’s early-March crackdown on Tibetan
protesters, the aftermath of which continues to reverberate in the international
media. Less well known, however, is the degree to which the heavy hand of
Chinese authorities has spread to the Internet, as Beijing enforces a de facto
“black out” of the unrest in Tibet.
United Press International reports the popular video-sharing website YouTube
was officially blocked by Chinese authorities during the crisis, as were similar
China-based websites such as youku.com and tudou.com. The
popularity of such websites has alarmed Beijing and in recent months some fifty
sites were ordered by the State Administration of Radio Film and Television to
sign a “self-discipline agreement.” |
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Copyright
© 2008, American Foreign Policy Council. All rights reserved |
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