China Masking Huge Military Buildup

By Bob Maginnis BobMaginnis.com Red Alert: China is sending misleading messages about its massive military buildup. Last week China's Communist regime published the every-second-year edition of its defense white paper, "China's National Defense in 2010," which claims to promote transparency in its defense planning and deepen international trust, and asserts that its security policy is defensive in nature. But the paper's messages are not supported by the facts. Consider five of the many misleading messages imbedded in the 30-page defense white paper.First, "China attaches great importance to military transparency," the paper claims. The Pentagon takes issue with that view in a report, stating,

"The limited transparency in China's military and security affairs enhances uncertainty and increases the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation."

China fails the transparency test by understating its defense spending. The Pentagon's 2010 report on China's military estimates Beijing's total military-related spending for 2009 was more than $150 billion, but the white paper claims it spent about half that amount, $75.56 billion (495.11 billion RMB). The difference, according to the Pentagon, is due to the fact that China's defense budget "does not include major categories of expenditure," but the report fails to identify those categories. China's defense spending increased annually for more than two decades, but the white paper states, "The growth rate of defense expenditure has decreased." That statement is refuted by China's official 2011 defense budget, which is $92 billion, up 12.7% from 2010, which grew from 7.5% during the previous year.The Pentagon report also states China isn't transparent regarding its growing force-projection capabilities. For example, the so-called transparent white paper does not mention Beijing's plan to deploy an aircraft carrier known to be under construction. A question about the carrier was posed at the press conference announcing the white paper, but was never answered.Click here for complete article:http://www.bibleprophecyblog.com/2011/04/china-masking-huge-military-buildup.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BibleProphecyBlog+%28Bible+Prophecy+Blog%29