China increases its defence budget by 12.7 percent; Zhao Qizheng counters media views about possibility of revolution in China; PLA is ready to evacuate Chinese citizens if Libya-type situation arises in other countries also; Guo Boxiong leads the delegat
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Whatsapp
  • Linkedin
  • Print

    • The spokesman for the annual session of China’s national legislature Li Zhaoxing has noted on 5 March that China plans to raise its defense budget by 12.7 percent to 601 billion yuan (91.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2011, compared with an increase of 7.5 percent last year. He said that the Chinese government had always tried to limit military spending and it had set the defense spending at a reasonable level to ensure the balance between national defense and economic development. He also claimed that China’s defense expenditure was transparent and defensive in nature. He reiterated that there was no such thing as a so-called hidden military expenditure in China, and the budget was subject to auditing from the government and military.1 However, while responding to a question on whether China’s defense budget increase would put pressure on its neighboring countries such as India, he maintained that while China’s military spending amounted to about 1.4 percent of its GDP, “that ratio in India is much higher than 2 percent as far as I know”. Separately, Li also informed that China and India had held 14 rounds of meetings since 2003 in an effort to speed up negotiations for an early solution to border issues. 2

    Meanwhile, spokesman for the Fourth Session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Zhao Qizheng has vociferously countered the views expressed in some quarters of the media about possible revolution in China following the recent revolutionary trends in the Middle East. He argued that recent riots in the Middle East and North Africa would not be repeated in China as the Chinese government was doing a good job and taking people’s demands seriously. He emphasized, “Some media have said the problems in the Middle East will infect China, and that there have been such signals in China. I have said explicitly, with confidence, that such comparison is very absurd and does not match the facts… we are to build 10 million apartments in one year, can you hear about that in any other country around the world?”. He was talking to the media at a news conference on 6 March.3

    Meanwhile, reports noted some Chinese Generals as saying that Chinese army is likely to participate in more possible evacuations of overseas Chinese should the situation require such an action. This statement has come in the backdrop of evacuation of Chinese citizens from Libya by the PLA. Luo Yuan, a Major General and also a researcher with the PLA Academy of Military Science, has said that Libya-like situations – riots or wars – are likely to occur in other countries also. In that scenario, the PLA will help to evacuate overseas Chinese citizens. So far, Chinese government had pulled all 35,860 Chinese out of Libya by late Wednesday evening.4 Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has issued a security advisory to the Chinese enterprises in Yemen to strengthen their security in view of rising tensions in the country. The MOC suggested to Chinese enterprises that are planning to invest or do business in Yemen that they pay close attention to the development of local conditions and put off plans in the short term.5

    The head of a PLA delegation Guo Boxiong and the deputy heads, Xu Caihou and Li Jinai, are leading the PLA delegation attending the 4th Session of the 11th National People’s Congress (NPC). The session opened on March 5th in Beijing.6 According to reports, currently there are a total of 40 PLA members in the special committees of the 11th NPC and altogether 39 PLA members in the special committees of the 11th CPPCC National Committee. The responsibilities of the PLA members of the NPC are to review the proposals submitted by the NPC Presidium or the NPC Standing Committee and to assist the NPC and the NPC Standing Committee in legislation and supervision. At the same time, the PLA members also play an important role in participation in deliberation of state affairs in the special committees of the CPPCC.7

    The Chinese special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs Wu Dawei has recently said that the resumption of the Six-Party Talks is facing many difficulties, but China hopes that those difficulties can be overcome at an early date. He also reiterated that China was not in favor of any preconditions for restarting the Six-Party Talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. The talks have been stalled for about two years now. Wu was talking to media on the sidelines of the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body. 8

    Last week, Chinese deputy chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Ma Xiaotian visited Uruguay. During his visit, he met and held talks with Uruguayan Defense Minister Luis Rosadilla on Friday, 5 March 2011. The two leaders exchanged their views on various issues of mutual concern.9 On the other hand, the visiting Italian Army chief Giuseppe Valotto visited China last week where he had a meeting with Liang Guanglie, state councilor and defense minister of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), on Monday, 1 March 2011 in Beijing. On this occasion, Liang Guanglie had said the China-Italy relations had seen continuous development since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries more than four decades ago. Valotto also said the world was the witness of the rapid progress in the friendly relations between Italy and China, and the Italian side was willing to join hands with the Chinese side to continuously promote the China-Italy military relations to a new height.10

    Meanwhile, the Information Office of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense reported that Chinese and Pakistani air forces had started a joint drill. The drill, code-named “Shaheen-1”, is being undertaken in Pakistan and will continue through 30 March 2011.11

    The 7th escort taskforce of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) accomplished its 32nd escort mission, also the 300th escort mission accomplished by the Chinese naval escort taskforces on 28 February 2011. The media learnt that the Chinese naval escort taskforces had provided escorts for a total of 3,454 Chinese and foreign ships in 300 batches, 1,507 of which were foreign merchant ships accounting for 43.6% of the total ships escorted. 12

    Li Baodong, the Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, has taken over the rotating Council presidency from Brazilian UN Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti. The Security Council presidency rotates among the Council members in the English alphabetical order of their names. Each president holds office for one calendar month.13

    Greek Minister for Maritime Affairs, Islands and Fisheries Ioannis Diamantidis has recently visited Shanghai to meet with policymakers and shipping industry executives from February 25 to 27. The aim of his visit is to enrich maritime cooperation with China. The two countries enjoy a close partnership in shipping transportation and shipbuilding. Separately, Greece is a global leader in shipping, with more than 4,000 ships and 15 percent of the world’s total moving capacity. Shipping contributes around 5 percent of overall GDP of Greece. An additional 325 Greek-owned vessels worth $15 billion are currently under construction in China. Furthermore, the Chinese maritime freight group COSCO operates two terminals at Piraeus, Greek’s largest port, situated 10 kilometers from Athens in the East Mediterranean Sea. According to Diamantidis, with its strategic location, the Piraeus port could become a key hub for Chinese goods bound for Europe. 14

    In other developments, Chinese and Russian local authorities are exploring to co-develop a border island, Heixiazi, into a tourist destination visa-free for each other’s citizens. Reports noted that a delegation of planning officials from Northeast China's Heilongjiang province have recently concluded a meeting on the island’s development with the government of Khabarovskiy Territory in Russia.15

    Top