20100211 PLA officers urge Beijing to punish US

PLA officers urge Beijing to punish US

ARMS SALES: Two PLA major generals have urged Beijing to retaliate against the US weapons package for Taiwan through politics, military affairs, diplomacy and economics

REUTERS , BEIJING
Thursday, Feb 11, 2010, Page 5

Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that their country boost defense spending, adjust People’s Liberation Army (PLA) deployments and possibly sell some US bonds to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan.

The calls for broad retaliation over the planned US weapons sales to Taiwan came from officers at the National Defense University and Academy of Military Sciences, interviewed by Outlook Weekly, a Chinese-language magazine published by the Xinhua news agency.

The interviews with Major Generals Zhu Chenghu (朱成虎) and Luo Yuan (羅援) and Senior Colonel Ke Chunqiao (柯春橋) appeared in the issue published on Monday.

The PLA plays no role in setting policy for China’s foreign exchange holdings. Officials in charge of that area have given no sign of any moves to sell US Treasury bonds over the weapons sales, a move that could alarm markets and damage the value of China’s own holdings.

While far from representing fixed government policy, the open demands for retaliation by the PLA officers underscored the domestic pressures on Beijing to deliver on its threats to punish US President Barack Obama’s administration over the arms sales.

“Our retaliation should not be restricted to merely military matters, and we should adopt a strategic package of counter-punches covering politics, military affairs, diplomacy and economics to treat both the symptoms and root cause of this disease,” said Luo, a researcher at the Academy of Military Sciences.

“Just like two people rowing a boat, if the United States first throws the strokes into chaos, then so must we,” he said.

Luo said Beijing could “attack by oblique means and stealthy feints” to make its point in Washington.

“For example, we could sanction them using economic means, such as dumping some US government bonds,” Luo said.

The warnings from the PLA come after weeks of strains between Washington and Beijing, who have also been at odds over Internet controls and hacking, trade and currency quarrels, and Obama’s planned meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Chinese has blasted the US over the planned US$6.4 billion arms package for Taiwan unveiled late last month, saying it will sanction US firms that sell weapons to Taiwan.

China is likely to unveil its official military budget for this year next month, when the National People’s Congress meets for its annual session.

The PLA officers suggested that budget should mirror China’s ire towards Washington.

“Clearly propose that due to the threat in the Taiwan Sea, we are increasing military spending,” Luo said.

Last year, the government set the official military budget at 480.7 billion yuan (US$70.4 billion), a 14.9 percent rise on the one in 2008, continuing a nearly unbroken succession of double-digit increases over more than two decades.

The fresh US arms sales threatened Chinese military installations on coast facing Taiwan, and “this gives us no choice but to increase defense spending and adjust [military] deployments,” said Zhu, dean of the National Defense University in Beijing.

Zhu stirred controversy in 2005 by saying Beijing could use nuclear weapons if the US intervened militarily in a conflict over Taiwan.

China has the world’s biggest pile of foreign currency reserves, much of it held in US treasury debt. China held US$798.9 billion in US Treasuries at the end of October.

But any attempt to use that stake against Washington would probably maul the value of China’s own dollar-denominated assets.

China has condemned previous arms sales, but has taken little action in response to them. But Luo said the country’s growing strength meant that time has passed.

“China’s attitude and actions over US weapons sales to Taiwan will be increasingly tough,” the magazine cited him as saying. “That is inevitable with rising national strength.”