Top Chinese diplomat tells US to 'shut up' on arms spending

LONDON AFP 17/08/2006 17:50


China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, throwing diplomatic language to the wind, has told the United States in no uncertain terms to "shut up and keep quiet" on the subject of Beijing's growing military spending.

Interviewed for a BBC radio programme on the topic Thursday, Sha Zukang also said China would "do the business" and sacrifice its own people's lives if any nation supported a declaration of independence by Taiwan.

Responding to jitters within the Bush administration about Beijing's spiraling military budget, Sha said the United States itself accounts for half of the entire world's military spending.

"The China population is six times or five times that of the United States," he said. "Why blame China?... It's better for the US to shut up and keep quiet. It's much, much better."

His voice rising, Sha continued: "It's the US's sovereign right to do whatever they deem good for them -- but don't tell us what is good for China. Thank you very much!"

Sha was equally explicit on Taiwan declaring independence with US backing -- a prospect that the BBC programme, by former Beijing correspondent Carrie Gracie, called the motivating factor behind Chinese military spending.

"The moment Taiwan declares independence, supported by whoever, China will have no choice," he said.

"We will do the business through whatever means available to my government. Nobody should have any illusions on that. We will do the business at any cost."

He added: "It's not a matter of how big Taiwan is, but for China, one inch of the territory is more valuable than the life of our people. We will never concede on that."

China's rising military spending, which has grown by double digits for much of the last 15 years, has caused concern in the United States and amongst China's neighbors in Asia.

In March the National People's Congress (parliament), largely a rubber-stamp for decisions taken at the top level of the Chinese Communist Party, approved a 14.7-percent increase in military spending to 35 billion dollars (27 billion euros) this year.

Although this is paltry compared to the 419 billion dollar (325 billion euro) US defense budget in 2006, the Pentagon last year estimated that China's defense spending was two to three times the publicly announced figure.

In a speech in Beijing in July, Defence Minister Cao Gangchuan said modernization of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) remained a priority, the China News Service reported.

"The entire military must eye the historic destiny of China's military in the new century and new era and push forward the main line of a Chinese-style revolution in military affairs," he was quoted as saying.

He added: "We must unswervingly fulfill our sacred duty to defend state sovereignty, territorial integrity and security and never tolerate Taiwan independence and never permit Taiwan independence forces under any name or under any circumstances or form to split Taiwan from the motherland."

I was watching the PBS TV program: Charlie Rose. The guest there, Richard Holbrook - former US ambassador to the UN, said that while the current terrorism issues are the imminent threat to the nation, it pales in comparison to the greatest threat the US faces in the long term, that being China.

Way to go. Only if other nations would follow the same to stand up against American Imperialism.

The US will face a multitude of threats in the next 20-30 years but I think these three are on top of the list:

(1) Islam: Not just rogue regimes like Syria and Iran but countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt whose rulers are currently allied to the US but are ripe for a revolution. Perhaps even an Islamic revolution. Islam is in a major power struggle with the West and in my opinion, it could very prevail in this power struggle, although this will require a reforming and re-defining the religion for the 21st century.

(2) China : China will compete with the US both economically and militarily.

(3) India: This is another emerging power house. Although a bit behind China, it is likely to catch up and has the potential to surpass China. India will compete with the US for brainpower and given it's cost advantages will give the US a run for its money.

History has shown us that every empire has it's expiration date. And that of US seems to be sonner than expected.
Only if Americans could see this and start respecting others, it could be delayed.

Very interesting analogy Captain Haddock, It would be interesting to see the non whites overcome the dominance of whites. But i highly doubt that the super humans, the whites, will let india or china get ahead of them. I can see India becoming Singapore, and China becoming Japan but even far far away in the horizon i dont see white ppl letting someone become more powerful and successful than themselves.

Lets face it, whites are the leaders and the rest try to follow what whites do in name of civilization. I believe in the supramacy of whites. Dont get me wrong here by praising the whites. I think there are non whites who know everything within the circle but only whites can think outside the circle.

Did he scold US in chinese or english?

"xui chhi shhu kheawang :@ :@" hahahahahahahaha...

i think someone must have translated the rage in english hahahaha...

j/k

Agree with Haddock's list..

LooTe

aiit aiit captan...but you missed something:

Major Threat to US and rest of the world : CRAZY Nepalese ......don't know who's gonna explode when!!!!!

Sidster, at first I thought your "superhuman" comment was a sarcastic one till I read " I believe in the supramacy of whites" and " but only whites can think outside the circle". Dude, please tell me you are joking. Not just are those comments ridiculous but they have no factual basis to support them.

I suppose if you beleive that whites are supreme, that's your choice,but beleiving something that is so prejudiced and biased will only cloud your judgement about your own life and your place in it. I think that thinking borders on the infantile and once you dig below the surface you will find such thinking has no intellectual or factual moorings.

"Lets face it, whites are the leaders and the rest try to follow what whites do in name of civilization. "

That's nonsense. There might be some who do but there are a lot who dont. Plus, there are leaders every where in every country and society. The fact that the caucasian West is the dominating power today helps them export their ideas and thoughts but there are plenty of other prevailing philosophies and ideas at work in the world today.

Hush - LOL. Long time no see! Hope you are well. What's new with you?

Captain,
I second what sidster is saying..though we may see india rising and china rising ..it is all because of US.Now you may say it is give and take.well you are right..but see for US if they want they can make any country china or india.
it is the power of money!white from the begining of the civilization are not just ruler because they had power ..they are just damn smart!!!!
Already we are seeing most of the software works are diverting too eastern europe why???india might be cheaper compartively
alreadt we are seeing industry are shifting to south america why??
this is big game !!!if u understand white then you can beat white ..till now .no body has!!!!

Sidster - To address your other point of whether the West will let India and China get ahead of them, I think it is for the most part beyond their control. In this day and age, where, as Tom Friedman says, the world is "flat" with the relatively free flow of ideas, money and commerce, there isn't a whole lot the West can really do to stop them. And I am not sure if the West even wants to stop them. Market dynamics will dictate the balance of power in the decades to come. As the West ages, you will tend to find younger workers in larger numbers in countries like India and China, and that will drive the growth of these two economies even further.

IMI, no offense, but your reasoning too is pretty shallow. I am not even sure I want to go down the path of disecting it. You need more facts to back up your argument. The software industry may be diversifying but to imply it is a grand conspiracy to conserve white power is nonsense. This diversification is market driven (cost, labor supply) with an eye on spreading risk across different places. All indications at this time are India will continue to dominate in this sector for the next 20-30 years.

Captain read: black book of outsourcing!!!

i don't just say it ...india will get projects but its dominance will decrease significantly in coming days within 5 years!!!

You are right , it is market driven ..but politics determines economy..you should know that.

IMI,that's a much more sensible comment. Economics and politics influence each other - it's a two way street. But in an increasingly capitalistic world, market forces are all powerful, and affect the lives of even ordinary people (e.g no bread in the fridge) and therefore, I believe, will influence the political landscape in countries around the world more than social and moral forces do.

Also, I don't think India has peaked yet. It's not just outsourcing (as in sending work to be done in India) that's fueling the Indian economy. Indian companies are growing players in the market doing on shore work in NA and Europe.

Its mostly been IT services coming out of India so far but biotech and other high-skilled domains are bound to follow as cost pressure mounts on firms in the west.

What kind of nonsense statement is this " whites are the leaders and the rest try to follow what whites do in name of civilization."?
Talking about civilization, Indians and Chinese had their own civilizations and in so many aspects were way advanced than what West has been able to provide. The break through in western civilization came from Industrial revolution and capitalism. While people from other civilizations due to their own cultural and religious practices were content and passive, west constantly tried to acquire more land, power and money by being aggressors. Thus, colonialism began. And with exploitation and capitalism being introduced, other civilizations bought to the western idea or making more money at the expense of others. So to conclude that whites are superior than others is purely a sign of inferiority complex which when suffered from actually justifies the statement.
And IMI, no US cannot make any country China and India. You could say that the reason why India and China are growing at such a pace is because of American money spent and invested in these countries. But there is a reason to it. These two countries provide the cheapest services and product to US. So if US was to pick another country to make it like China and India, it could be doing so at its own expense which is contrary to any nation's self-interest.

hehehehehehehe.. MR. Bush must be astonished. ahahahaha. Bush's bush must be in fire. eheheheheheheheheheheh.

what you guys don't realize is this :
yes india and china makes millions at the same time US is making billions!!!!

Big deal!So?The share of the pie is bound to change as these economies become more intertwined. The impact of millions on China and India has far greater consequences than perphaps the effect of America's billions.