China to extend military reach

BEIJING - China said Tuesday that it plans to extend its military's global reach to safeguard its economic and maritime interests while declaring that it does not seek confrontation with its neighbors despite their "provocative actions" over disputed islands and "meddling" by the United States.

A policy document issued by the State Council, or cabinet, setting out China's military strategy underlined the growth of the country's defense ambitions in tandem with its dramatic economic rise.

Beijing insisted in the document that its military is dedicated to "international security cooperation" and peaceful development. But it also said that the navy would expand its focus from "offshore waters defense" to a greater emphasis on "open seas protection" as China aims to establish itself as a maritime power. The air force, meanwhile, would shift its focus from "territorial air defense to both defense and offense."

Patrick Cronin, director of the Asia Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, called the white paper "a blueprint for achieving slow motion regional hegemony."

"It asserts a confidence backed by growing capability on land and increasingly at sea," he said. "While it calls for balancing China's territorial 'rights' with 'stability,' there should be little doubt on the part of its neighbors that China is building a maritime force to assert the former."

China's officially disclosed defense budget expanded by a little more than 10 percent this year to $141 billion, marking two decades of nearly unbroken double-digit growth. The navy is reported to be building a second aircraft carrier and has also invested heavily in submarines and warships.

According to a Pentagon report released this month, China is also developing a range of missiles designed to extend its operational reach and "push adversary forces - including the United States - farther from potential regional conflicts."

The Chinese military's main goal remains to prepare for potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait, the Pentagon said, but added that it is also investing to prepare for "contingencies" in the East China Sea and South China Sea, where it is engaged in a number of maritime territorial disputes with its neighbors.

Chinese officials say that China's declared defense spending, which is less than a quarter of the U.S. defense budget, is significantly below the global average when compared with the size of the Chinese economy.

In a move welcomed by other nations, China sent a 700-strong peacekeeping force in December to South Sudan, where it has extensive oil interests, marking the first time it has sent an infantry battalion on a UN mission.