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China’s military spending ramped up to 1.3 trillion yuan because ‘the world is not peaceful’: PLA official

蘋果日報 2021/03/09 05:45


China must increase its military budget because of the many threats the country faces in a time of global instability, according to a People’s Liberation Army representative justifying the 6.8% increase in China’s military budget this year.
The steady growth in military spending is on par with the country’s accelerating economic power, said Wu Qiang, the spokesperson for the delegation of the PLA and the Armed Police Force at this year’s meetings of the National People’s Congress. Wu was speaking in an interview with mainland media.
The challenges facing China’s safety must not be overlooked, Wu added. Issues including military clashes at the India-Chinese border and sovereignty over certain islands and water borders remain unresolved, he added.
The “stubborn” pro-independence stance of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party poses “the greatest threat to peace and stability across the straits,” Wu said. “The world is not peaceful. Our national defense must be strong.”
Wu’s statement echoed Premier Li Keqiang’s work report, given earlier at the “two sessions” – the annual meeting of China’s legislature – which revealed an increase in annual military spending to 1.3 trillion yuan (US$199 billion).
Meanwhile, the CCTV Military Channel on Sunday released footage of an exercise by the 73rd Group Army, which is widely expected to be the main force involved in any mainland attack on Taiwan.
The video showed an armored team inspecting ammunition as well as the dispatch of tanks and other armored vehicles. Dozens of attack drills were also shown, consuming more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
Another CCTV clip, depicting a recent exercise of the Northern Theater Naval Minesweeper Brigade in the Yellow Sea, featured a display of China’s naval might. The report showed naval gun defense, shooting with light weapons, mine laying and minesweeping, and described the combat capabilities of ships in complex situations.
Meanwhile, a separate report said a U.S. Air Force RC-135S reconnaissance aircraft flew over the Yellow Sea at 5 a.m. on March 5, evidently a reconnaissance flight collecting electronic data. The report was issued on Twitter by the South China Sea Strategic Situational Awareness Program, operated by the Institute of Oceanography at Peking University.
Twitter user liuming, who is known for his frequent comments about satellite images, noted in a Twitter message that a PLA submarine surfaced and launched a missile at around the same time as the U.S. Air Force plane was spotted. The submarine-launched weapon was believed to be a Julang-2 ballistic missile, he said.
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