White paper reveals insight into Chinese defence rationale

China has sought to justify the rapid development of its armed forces in its latest defence white paper, which was released on 20 January, while at the same time aiming to reassure the world that its military plans are "purely defensive in nature".

While the paper was short on detail in important areas such as weapon programmes, China analysts found much encouragement in what was its longest and most detailed defence white paper to date.

Reacting to international concerns about its military ambitions, the paper - entitled 'China's National Defence in 2008' - argued that China still lags behind "developed countries in economy, science and technology, as well as military affairs" despite consistent double-digit defence budget increases over recent years.

China spent USD46.8 billion on defence in 2007, the report said, making no attempt to answer US claims that China's true defence budget may have been up to three times that amount.

As in previous years, the paper outlined China's policy of "active defence" and gave an overview of the country's long-term plans to modernise and "informationise" its armed forces by 2020.

"What they did that I thought was excellent was lay out very clearly the rationale for why they're building the kind of PLA [People's Liberation Army] they're building," said David Finkelstein, director and vice-president for China Studies at US think-tank CNA.

The latest paper also used the same official terminology as China's own military strategists, Finkelstein said, in a departure from previous years.

Image: China's latest defence white paper has provided some fresh insights into the country's military (PA Photo) 243 of 665 words