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China ratcheting up military to protect energy supplies

It's a long article, first piece below, for the rest go to link.
ND9
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China’s arms race raises tensions
By Jonathan Fenby
28 May 2006

WHILE proclaiming that it is pursuing a “peaceful rise” in global affairs, China is quietly ratcheting up its military power, spurred by concern about energy supplies.

This is causing growing concern in the United States and Japan, though Beijing still hopes to get the European Union to relax its ban on arms exports to the mainland.

The build-up has concentrated on the navy, new aircraft from Russia and improved ­control-and-command systems designed to make the sprawling People’s Liberation Army a more efficient fighting force.

Though the PLA’s main target remains the island of Taiwan, Beijing is increasingly motivated by its concern to maintain the energy supplies that power its 10% annual growth. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) declares that its aim is to be a force “powerful enough to take on important missions on the basis of China’s economic development”.

This means having the capacity to protect energy supplies along sea lanes from the Middle East and West Africa, and overland from Central Asia.

In pursuit of the first objective, Defence Minister Cao Gangchun visited Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam last month to discuss military co-operation. Beijing already has a naval presence in southern Burma and Pakistan, and wants to expand its electronic surveillance capability to Cambodia and Bangladesh. It is also stepping up contacts with Yemen in the hope of getting a base there close to the strategic Straits of Hormuz.

Fresh battlefield concepts are being taught and tested on computer models – the Chinese army newspaper says more than 60,000 “armed combatants” have gone through the process.

As revealed by two Chinese academics, Wu Lei and Shen Qinu, in the latest edition of the Far East Economic Review (FEER), the PLA is setting up combined arms battle groups for what are known as “active defence” operations deep inside foreign territory – a major break with the Maoist tradition of simply defending China’s borders and being ready to fight any invader inside mainland territory.

These units each equipped with 500 fighting vehicles and more than 100 helicopters. would also contain artillery, air and chemical defence, communications and an electronic warfare detachment, according to military expert Martin Andrew writing for the Jamestown Foundation.

http://www.thebusinessonline.com/Stories.aspx?China%E2%80%99s%20arms%20race%20raises%20tensions&...