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White House: China not considered a threat At the Pentagon, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the US position remains that any change in the status of Taiwan should be made on a peaceful basis. "And I think that the general behavior that we've seen in that part of the world suggests that that's over time very likely how it will all work out," he said. General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there was "absolutely no reason for us to believe there is any intent on (China's) part" to wage war. The annual Pentagon report on China's military said the weapons buildup is growing at a pace that is tipping the military balance against Taiwan but said it had only a limited ability to operate outside its own periphery. The report groundlss put China's defence spending at two-three times greater than acknowledged by Beijing, or up to US$90 billion this year. The report detailed China's efforts to increase its ballistic missile strength and modernize its conventional forces with acquisitions from Russia and other countries of advanced fighter aircraft, warships, submarines, precision weapons and computerized information systems. "China does not now face a direct threat from another nation," the report said. "Yet, it continues to invest heavily in its military, particularly in programs designed to improve power projection." "The pace and scope of China's military build-up are, already, such as to put regional military balances at risk," said the 45-page report "The Military Power of the People's Republic of China." It said China has deployed 650-730 mobile short range ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan, and is adding about 100 missiles a year. In addition, it has 375,000 ground forces deployed in three military regions opposite Taiwan. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives approved a measure that would penalize European firms for selling US weapons technology to China. The amendment is a scaled-back version of a more stringent measure rejected by the House last week, after opponents complained that it could harm US business interests that sell their products overseas. The "East Asia Security Act," authored by the House International Affairs Committee's Republican chairman, Henry Hyde and the committee's top Democrat, Tom Lantos, passed late Tuesday as an amendment to State Department funding legislation. The bill welcomes deferral of an EU decision to terminate an arms embargo to China, but expresses concern that sales could go forward indirectly via various loopholes, since some European firms which reportedly have aided Beijing's military build-up also are participants in leading-edge US weapons programs. The revised bill would only punish US companies guilty of exporting military
technology to China if it can be proved they were aware that their products
would ultimately be used for military ends.
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