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By Xinhua writer Zhou Xiaozheng
BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- China published on
Monday a white paper on national defense, reaffirming its determination to crush
any "Taiwan independence" attempt at all costs and reassure the world of its
pursuit of peaceful development that will pose "no obstacle or threat to any
one."
The 85-page white paper, the fifth of its kind since
1995, was titled "China's National Defense in 2004" and released by the
Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet.
The publication of the white paper was intended to
"illustrate China's national defense policies and the progress made in national
defense and army building over the past two years," said the information office.
Observing that "peace and development remain the
dominating themes of the times," the white paper says that "factors of
uncertainty, instability and insecurity are on the increase" in the global
security situation.
"The separatist activities of the 'Taiwan
independence' forces have increasingly become the biggest immediate threat to
China's sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as peace and stability on
both sides of the Taiwan Straits and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole," the
white paper says.
"The Taiwan authorities under Chen Shui-bian have
recklessly challenged the status quo that both sides of the Straits belong to
one and the same China, and markedly escalated the 'Taiwan independence'
activities designed to split China."
"The situation in the relations between the two sides
of the Taiwan Straits is grim," it says.
The paper also criticizes the United States for its
continuous arms sales to Taiwan which, it says, increases both "quantitatively
and qualitatively," despite Washington's repeated commitment to adhere to the
one-China policy and oppose "Taiwan independence."
The US action is "sending a wrong signal to the
Taiwan authorities" and "does not serve a stable situation across the Taiwan
Straits."
"It is the sacred responsibility of the Chinese armed
forces to stop the 'Taiwan independence' forces from splitting the country,"
says the paper.
"We will never allow anyone to split Taiwan from
China through whatever means," the paper says. "Should the Taiwan authorities go
so far as to make a reckless attempt that constitutes a major incident of
'Taiwan independence', the Chinese people and armed forces will resolutely and
thoroughly crush it at any cost."
The paper also points out that the Chinese government
will continue to adhere to the basic principles of "peaceful reunification" and
"one country, two systems" while handling the Taiwan issue.
"So long as the Taiwan authorities accept the
one-China principle and stop their separatist activities aimed at 'Taiwan
independence', cross-Straits talks can be held at any time on officially ending
the state of hostility between the two sides, including on the establishment of
a confidence-building mechanism in the military field," it says.
The white paper pledges that China will persist in
taking the road of peaceful development and unswervingly pursue a national
defense policy "defensive in nature."
"China will never go for expansion, nor will it ever
seek hegemony," it says.
The paper says that the development goal for China to
strive for in the first two decades of this century is to build a moderately
prosperous society in an all-round way. "China will mainly rely on its own
strength for development, and therefore poses no obstacle or threat to any one,"
it adds.
The white paper reveals in details China's defense
spending and how the money was used in the past two years. It says that China,
whose GDP (gross domestic product) in 2002 and 2003 was 10,517.234 billion yuan
(1.267 trillion US dollars) and 11,725.194 billion yuan (1.412 trillion dollars)
respectively, only spent 170.778 billion yuan (20.57 billion dollars) and
190.787 billion yuan (22.98 billion dollars) respectively on national defense in
the corresponding year. China's defense budget for 2004 is 211.701 billion yuan
(25.50 billion dollars).
"The absolute amount of China's defense expenditure
has long been lower than those of some major Western countries, and the
proportion to the GDP and state financial expenditure has also been relatively
low," says the paper, citing figures of 2003 which showed that China's defense
expenditure amounted to only 5.69 percent of that of the United States, 56.78
percent of that of Japan, 37.07 percent of that of the United Kingdom, and 75.94
percent of that of France.
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