Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BEIJING5757
2007-08-31 11:13:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Beijing
Cable title:  

PRC DEFENSE MINISTER STRESSES CHINA'S PEACEFUL RISE

Tags:  PREL PGOV CH JN 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHBJ #5757/01 2431113
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 311113Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1444
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 005757 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV CH JN
SUBJECT: PRC DEFENSE MINISTER STRESSES CHINA'S PEACEFUL RISE

Classified By: Minister Counselor for Political Affairs
Aubrey Carlson. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).

Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 005757

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV CH JN
SUBJECT: PRC DEFENSE MINISTER STRESSES CHINA'S PEACEFUL RISE

Classified By: Minister Counselor for Political Affairs
Aubrey Carlson. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).

Summary
--------------


1. (SBU) In a public address in Tokyo August 30, PRC Defense
Minister Cao Gangchuan countered arguments that China poses a
threat to the region and underscored China's increasing
defense transparency. The Minister stated that the PRC has
no military allies and its defense policy will not change,
"even if China grows stronger." He said defending China's
sovereignty warrants investment of money and materiel.
Post's contacts suggested Cao's speech contained little that
was new. End Summary.

Peaceful Rise, Spending Increase Reasonable
--------------


2. (U) According to our unofficial translation of the
Japanese language text of the address Post received via the
MFA, Cao contended in his address that China's rise is
peaceful and based on its national conditions. China's
development is not a threat to anyone, but rather "is an
opportunity for the region and the entire the world," he
asserted. The Minister underscored that China is
strengthening its military in the interest of defense and
maintaining peace. The "uninformed" or those with ulterior
motives promote the "China threat," but this has no basis in
fact, he stressed. "There is no country with which China has
a military alliance," Cao claimed, and China will advocate
for the active role of the United Nations and will oppose the
"wanton use of military force." Currently, China is on a
peaceful development path and has "decided to implement a
defensive national security policy" that will not change
"even if China grows stronger." Maintaining China's defense
modernization guarantees its "peaceful development path."
General Cao said that China also faces "unsafe, unstable and
uncertain elements," especially Taiwan authorities'
separatist activities, including attempts at de jure
independence, which greatly threaten peace and stability.
China will invest money and materiel to defend its
sovereignty and territorial integrity, he stated.


3. (U) The Minister views the development of China's military

power as appropriate and reasonable. Cao said for a long
period beginning in the 1970s, China's defense spending
experienced negative growth. He underscored that the
increased funding has been budgeted to compensate for past
gaps, with much of it spent on salaries and new uniforms.
Cao highlighted that as a proportion of GDP, as well as on a
per capita and per soldier basis, China's military spending
is actually quite low.

Transparency, Participation in the International Community
-------------- --------------


4. (U) The Chinese military is working hard to promote mutual
trust and improve transparency, Cao said. To that end, the
PLA participates in joint training, observation missions and
exercises. China has held defense consultations with twenty
countries and taken part in more than one hundred exchange
visits. China's military is making a positive contribution
to "world peace and development," Cao declared. Within the
framework of the United Nations, China has taken part in
peacekeeping operations in 16 task areas with 7,300 troops
deployed. In the area of disaster relief, the PRC has
provided humanitarianassistance on 14 different occasions in
16 contries over the past five years. It is also hasan
active role in the fight against terrorism. As a
"responsible member" of the international community pursuing
defense modernization, China will make an even greater
contribution to the preservation of world peace.

Reaction
--------------


5. (C) Cao's visit to Japan was the first in over nine years
by a Chinese defense chief. Japanese Defense Attache Col.
Yuichi Tsubaki speculated that General Cao's forceful
language on China's military budget may reflect Chinese
worries about Japan's relations with Taiwan. Colonel Tan
Teck Guan, the Singaporean Defense Attache, opined that
"there was not much new" in General Cao's speech. "These are
commonly heard arguments. But it is rare that to hear them
at such a high level during a visit," he said. Vietnamese
Deputy Defense Attache Col. Nguyen Van Chung told Poloff that
General Cao's remarks echoed those he made in private to
visiting Vietnamese Minister of Defense General Phung Quang
Thanh in a meeting August 28. "The United States pressures
China about the military budget, so China feels it must make
a public speech," he said. Vietnamese Political Counselor
(and long-time China watcher) Danh Minh Khoi, noting the

BEIJING 00005757 002 OF 002


prominent placement in Chinese media of Cao's robust defense
of China's military modernization alongside proclamations of
an "icebreaking" military exchange with Japan, speculated to
Poloff that the speech might be playing to a nationalist
Chinese domestic audience skeptical of closer Sino-Japanese
military ties.
Randt