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China will continue to strengthen its armed forces, Premier Wen Jiabao said Monday, as the United States expressed concern over a sharp rise in military spending.
Wen made the pledge while addressing nearly 3,000 lawmakers a day after the Chinese government announced the biggest increase in its military budget in recent years.
Spending in 2007 will rise 17.8 percent from last year to 350.9 billion yuan (about 45 billion dollars), it said.
“Building a solid national defence system and a powerful people's army is a strategic task in socialist modernisation,” Wen told the opening of the annual session of the National People's Congress, or legislature.
“We must continue to… strictly follow the important guidelines of Comrade (President) Hu Jintao on strengthening the army.”
The finance ministry said in a separate report submitted to parliament that the increase would “cover the cost of improving the army's ability to fight a defensive war under hi-tech conditions and respond to emergencies.”
Reflecting the increased focus on information technology in the People's Liberation Army, Wen also called for an improved ability to fight a “defensive IT war.”
The White House said it was concerned over the increase in military spending, warning it was “inconsistent” with Beijing's policy of peaceful development.
“This kind of spending not only concerns us but raises concerns among China's neighbors. This is inconsistent with China's policy of peaceful development,” said national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
“We hope they will demonstrate more transparency in the future,” Johndroe told AFP.
But Wen's comments and budget increase were applauded by military leaders who want to counter new threats and take back Taiwan.
About one tenth of the parliamentary delegates on Monday were military officers, who turned up at the spacious Great Hall of the People in full uniform.
“It's a good thing. If we don't have a strong defence, it will be hard to develop our motherland. Every country needs a strong defence,” Major General Yan Huazheng, a delegate from the northern province of Shanxi, told AFP.
“Taiwan is part of our territory. That of course is a factor (in boosting defence spending), but it's not the only one… there are lots of factors threatening China, and they come from all corners.”
Reunification with Taiwan is one of China's long-term objectives, and analysts have said Beijing is beefing up its military partly to enable it to take the island back by force if necessary.
China and Taiwan have been separated since the end of a civil war in 1949, but Beijing still considers the island part of its territory.
“Taiwan is our territory. Just look at history. Why can't we take Taiwan back?” said Tan Naida, a delegate from the National Defence University.
Since the beginning of the decade, Taiwan has been ruled by independence-leaning President Chen Shui-bian, exacerbating fears in Beijing that the island could break away for good.
“If Chen follows up his words with action, the People's Liberation Army can't just ignore it,” Su Shuyan, a military representative in parliament, told reporters. “We absolutely won't allow Taiwan to break away from China.”
Amid complaints from the United States and elsewhere that China's military budget lacks transparency and is vastly under-estimated, there appeared to be some doubt about exactly how much it would spend on its armed forces in 2007.
While a spokesman Sunday gave the figure for military spending at 350.9 billion yuan, the finance ministry's work report Monday said it would be 347.2 billion yuan.
Defence spending for 2006 went more than 10 million yuan over budget, and this year's stated rise of 17.8 percent is based on actual spending last year.
Compared to the 2006 budget, the figures given for this year represent a 22.3-percent rise.
