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WASHINGTON: A top Chinese general on Monday defended Beijing's rapid military modernisation, including the development of advanced weapons that threaten US forces in the Pacific, as aimed at meeting its minimum defence requirements.
General Xu Caihou, vice chairman of China's military commission, sought to allay US suspicions over the growing might of the Asian superpower by insisting that Beijing harboured no expansionist ambitions and wanted collaborative international relations.
"We will never seek hegemony, military expansion or an arms race," he told an audience of foreign policy experts at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
But when asked about its development of missiles designed to target US warships in the Pacific, Xu said Western suspicions about China's aims were unfounded.
"It is a limited capability, and limited weapons and equipment for the minimum requirement of its national security," he said, speaking through an interpreter.
Xu, whose position is the rough equivalent to a defence minister, also defended China's double-digit annual increases in defence spending as "quite low" both in real terms and as a percentage of its gross domestic product.
Whereas US defence spending amounts to 4.8 percent of GDP, China's was only 1.4 percent, he said.
The United States has repeatedly urged China to be more transparent about its military spending, warning of a shifting balance of power in the region that could arouse misunderstanding and miscalculation.
Xu acknowledged western concern over its military, which was put on display October 1 in a massive parade through Beijing on the 60th anniversary of its founding as a rag-tag guerrilla army.
The parade, he said, "was well received in international public opinion. However, I also noted some suspicion and misunderstanding in the press. Some reports were not objective enough."
Xu portrayed the Peoples Liberation Army as focused primarily on protecting China's economic development and defending against separatist and extremist challenges, which he said were clearly on the rise.
"There is still a huge gap between China and the developed world. We are now predominantly committed to peaceful development, and we will not, and could not, challenge or threaten any other country," he said.
"We believe that we should prudently handle current and future international affairs with a way of thinking that seeks accommodation instead of confrontation, and win-win instead of zero sum games," he said.
The general is scheduled to meet US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday as part of a US tour that will also take him to US military bases and installations around the country - the latest in on-again, off-again efforts by the two countries to improve often tense relations.
The visit comes ahead of US President Barack Obama's first trip to China November 15-18.
Xu said China wanted to invigorate military-to-military relations with the United States, but warned that Beijing regarded recent incursions into its 200-mile economic zone by US naval vessels as an infringement of its sovereignty.
But he said US-China relations had undergone a "smooth transition" since Obama took office in January, moving ties between the two countries to a new stage.
"The China-US relationship is one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world. Exchanges and cooperation between the United States and China are important for world peace and development," he said.
"The military to military relations constitutes an important part of the overall bilateral relations," he said, adding that they benefited regional stability. - AFP/de
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